New Nicoletiidae (Zygentoma: Insecta) from Brazil living in fire-ant (Hymenoptera: Insecta) nests

Abstract

A new myrmecophilous silverfish (Zygentoma: Nicoletiidae: Subnicoletiinae) from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, found living in fire ant (Solenopsis saevissima, Formicidae: Myrmicinae) nests is described: Allotrichotriura saevissima gen. nov. sp. nov. is compared with the other genera and subgenera known in the subfamily. The main diagnostic features would include the combination of body shape, body and head setation, morphology of praetarsus, and number of abdominal stylets and vesicles. Although further quests were attempted at the type-locality, only the original described material, exclusively composed of females, remains known.

Moth flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) collected in colonies of the fire ant Solenopsis virulens (Smith) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with description of two new species

“…In a recent work (Mendes et al, 2009), a new genus of Nicoletiidae (Zygentoma), Allotrichotriura was discovered in colonies of Solenopsis saevissima, demonstrating the need to further study the biodiversity of those insects that live in nests of ants.…”

The Intranidal Myrmecophiles of the Maltese Islands with Notes on Messor Nests as Repositories of Biodiversity

“…The upper estimate for global myrmecophile diversity stands at 100,000 species, though only 10% of these species are obligate myrmecophiles [ 4 ]. Today, a wide range of arthropod taxa are known to include myrmecophilous species, such as beetles [ 5 ], true bugs and their allies [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ], cockroaches [ 10 , 11 ], crickets [ 12 ], true flies [ 13 , 14 ], parasitoid wasps [ 15 ], moths and butterflies [ 16 , 17 ], silverfish [ 18 , 19 ], springtails [ 20 , 21 ], spiders [ 22 ], pseudoscorpions [ 23 , 24 ], mites [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ] and even woodlice [ 29 ]. Each myrmecophilous arthropod has become adapted for a life in the nest chambers of ants, and such adaptations are missing from arthropods whose presence in ant nests is more or less accidental due to their soil-inhabiting nature.…”