Ant fauna (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) associated to arboreal nests of Nasutitermes spp: (Isoptera, Termitidae) in a cacao plantation in southeastern Bahia, Brazil

Revista Brasileira de Entomologia

Pollyanna Pereira Santos²  Alexandre Vasconcellos¹  Benoit Jahyny¹  Jacques Hubert Charles Delabie¹ 

[1] ,Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia Ilhéus BA ,Brazil

关键词: Agricultural forest system;    diversity;    nesting;    Theobroma cacao;    Diversidade;    nidificação;    sistema agroflorestal;    Theobroma cacao;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S0085-56262010000300016

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

Ants are among the most common arthropods that colonize termite nests. The aim of this study was to identify the ant fauna associated to termite nests found in a cacao plantation in the county of Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil, with emphasis on the fauna that uses the nests as foraging and/or nesting environment. For this purpose, 34 active, decadent and abandoned nests of Nasutitermes corniger, N. ephratae and Nasutitermes sp., with different volumes and degrees of activity, were dissected. A total of 54 ant species, belonging to 23 genera and five subfamilies, was found in the constructions. The active, decadent and abandoned termite nests presented, respectively, six, eight and 48 ant species. Crematogaster acuta and Ectatomma tuberculatum were the most frequent species in the active and decadent nests, respectively, while the most frequent species in the abandoned nests were Solenopsis pollux, Thaumatomyrmex contumax and Thaumatomyrmex sp. Twenty-six ant species had true colonies within the termitaria. The Formicidae species richness in the nests was inversely related to the degree of termite activity in the nests. The occurrence of living, decadent or abandoned termitaria of Nasutitermes spp. in cacao plantations foments the heterogeneity of habitats available in the plantations and favors the maintenance of high diversity of organisms that use obligatory or opportunistically this substrate.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC-ND   
 All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License