Seasonal Patterns of the Foraging Ecology of Myrmelachista arthuri Forel, 1903 (Formicidae: Formicinae)

Abstract

Temporal dynamics of foraging activity, diet and habitat are key to understanding the bioecology of ants. These patterns are poorly studied in many Neotropical species, such as those belonging to genus Myrmelachista. In the present work, we investigate the foraging behavior and diet of M. arthuri and describe aspects of their food-searching behavior. We recorded the dynamics of workers exiting and entering nests built in the stems of native Atlantic forest trees during the cold/dry and warm/wet seasons. Food items carried by workers were also counted and identified. Myrmelachista arthuri foraged throughout the day, but worker activity became more intense as temperature increased and moisture declined, regardless of the season, and especially in the afternoon. This species had a generalist diet: 92% of the food items were live or dead arthropods or their remains, and a small proportion consisted of plant materials, such as seeds. Arthropod fragments, mostly of M. arthuri workers, represented the largest proportion of the diet, followed by whole Collembola individuals. Food items did not vary between seasons, the number of items was higher in the cold/dry season. The results of this work contribute to the understanding of M. arthuri biology, especially related to foraging dynamics.

A taxonomic study of the Brazilian turtle ants (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Cephalotes)

“…Cephalotes duckei (Forel, 1906) Obsolete combination: Cryptocerus duckei Cephalotes inaequalis (Mann, 1916) Obsolete combination: Cryptocerus inaequalis Cephalotes laminatus (Smith, 1860) Obsolete combination: Cryptocerus laminatus Cephalotes minutus (Fabricius, 1804) Obsolete 4,6,7,8,10,11,13,14,15,21,22,23,24,27,30,31,34,36,37,40,42,43,45,47,49,50,52,55,56,61,62,65,67,68,71,72,73). The solidus species group (Fig.…”

“…3f The angustus species group (Figs. 4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16) The angustus group was proposed by Kempf (1958a) based on the subgenus Harnedia of the genus Paracryptocerus, with 26 species divided into seven subgroups. De Andrade and Baroni Urbani (1999) reorganized this scheme, reducing the angustus group to Kempf's angustus subgroup, which was composed by C. adolphi, C. angustus, C. goeldii, C. notatus (= P. (Harnedia) fleddermanni in Kempf, 1958a), C. pallidicephalus (= P. (Harnedia) striativentris in Kempf, 1958a), and C. targionii.…”