TITLE:
Ant species diversity in ciliary forest and gallery forest areas in central Brazil
AUTHORS:
João Augusto Vieira de Oliveira, Daiane Martins da Silva, Flávia Assumpção Santana
KEYWORDS:
Species Richness; Formicidae; Cerrado; Pitfall; Sardine Bait Traps
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Entomology,
Vol.2 No.1,
January
9,
2014
ABSTRACT: Ants make up an important group of insects of the Cerrado in terms of biomass, number of individuals, and ecological impact. The main goals of this study were to quantify the species richness and species diversity of the family Formicidae in two riparian Cerrado physiognomies: Ciliary Forest and Gallery Forest, and to evaluate the effectiveness of two collection techniques for these organisms. The study was conducted during the dry season, comprising the months of May to October 2012, in the municipality of Quirinópolis, Goiás State, Brazil. Samples were made using two capture techniques: sardine baits and pitfall traps. Manual collection was employed to extend the range of faunistic composition of the ants. We collected 24 species of ants in the Gallery Forest and 23 in the Ciliary Forest. The genus Megalomyrmex was the most representative, being present in 49.46% of the samples, and secondly the genus Pheidole, with 15.36% of the total individuals captured. From a total of 10,917 individuals, 9140 were captured using the bait technique, 1738 with traps, and 39 individuals through manual collection. Similar results were found in the Cerrado of Paineiras, with 45 ant species distributed in 16 genera belonging to 5 subfamilies.