COI barcodes for ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of drylands in the south of Ecuador

Ants as indicators of environmental change and ecosystem processes

“…The ant fauna of Ecuador consists of at least 650 species, but it is taxonomically poorly defined (Salazar et al, 2015). Therefore, we established a mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) barcode reference library to refine our definition of morphospecies (see also Domínguez et al, 2016). COI barcodes for the ant species were obtained in collaboration with the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario using sequencing techniques and tools in the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD; Ratnasingham and Hebert, 2007).…”

Remote sensing improves prediction of tropical montane species diversity but performance differs among taxa

“…The ant fauna of Ecuador consists of species that are taxonomically poorly defined (Salazar et al, 2015). Therefore, we built a COI (mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I) barcode reference library that aided us to refine our morphology-based identification framework (Tiede et al, 2016b; see also Domínguez et al, 2016;Tiede et al, 2017). For analysis, ant species collected in the two seasons were pooled.…”

Odontomachus davidsoni sp. nov. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), a new conspicuous trap-jaw ant from Ecuador

“…In general, Ecuadorian biodiversity is comparatively high, because the country comprises three vastly distinct bioregions: the Amazon basin in East Ecuador, the Chocó-Darién bioregion in the North-West, and the Tumbesian drylands in the South of the country which are divided by the Andes, one of the highest mountain chains in the world ( Salazar and Donoso 2013 ; Salazar et al 2015 ). While ants of the Ecuadorian Amazon have received some attention (e.g., Donoso et al 2009 ; Wilkie et al 2010 ), ant research is severely lacking in the highly threatened areas of the Chocó-Darién ( Donoso and Ramón 2009 ; Donoso 2017 ) and in the southern drylands ( Dominguez et al 2016 ; Lattke et al 2016 ). Notably, the Chocó-Darién is home for several large and rare Odontomachus species, including O.…”