Diurnal flight periodicity of a Neotropical ant assemblage (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in the Atlantic Forest

Autor(es)

Rodrigo M. Feitosa ^[1] ; Rogério R. da Silva ^[2] ; Alexandre P. Aguiar ^[3]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Universidade Federal do Paraná. Departamento de Zoologia - Brasil

^[2] Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Coordenação de Ciências da Terra e Ecologia - Brasil

^[3] Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo. Departamento de Ciências Biológicas - Brasil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: Revista Brasileira de Entomologia; v. 60, n. 3, p. 241-247, 2016-09-00.

Resumo

ABSTRACT In this study we document for the first time flight patterns along a 24 h time range for an ant assemblage in one of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth, the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Malaise traps were used to analyze the diurnal nuptial flights of a Neotropical ant assemblage during five days. Traps captured 802 individuals, revealing a remarkably high diversity (42 ant species), with samples strongly male biased (1:22). Contrariwise to similar studies, we found only a small proportion of species engaged in nocturnal nuptial flights, with diurnal flights accounting for an impressive 95% of all ant flight activity recorded. For the 18 most common species, three ant groups could be identified regarding flight period: sunrise, sunset, and continuous flight activity. Similarity analyses, however, suggest that closely related time ranges of flight activity may actually not be continuous. Further, three species showed pulsed flight activity, at varied hours of the day. Two species of Hypoponera showed flight activity at different periods of the day, suggesting congeneric staggered nuptial flights. Our results match long-term studies of ant assemblages showing high diversity of flight phenologies in hyperdiverse tropical ant assemblages and provide the first data on the reproductive phenology for several Neotropical ant species. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 07/01310-2 - Revisão taxonômica e análise filogenética da subfamília Heteroponerinae (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)
• Beneficiário: Rodrigo dos Santos Machado Feitosa
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 10/51194-1 - Diversidade funcional e estrutura filogenética de comunidades de formigas em florestas tropicais e temperadas
• Beneficiário: Rogério Rosa da Silva
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Jovens Pesquisadores
• Processo FAPESP: 10/20570-8 - Diversidade funcional e estrutura filogenética de comunidades de formigas em florestas tropicais e temperadas
• Beneficiário: Rogério Rosa da Silva
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Jovens Pesquisadores