Check list of ground-dwelling ant diversity (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Iguazú National Park with a comparison at regional scale.

Authors

  • Priscila Elena Hanisch Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"
  • Luis Calcaterra Fundación para el Estudio de Especies Invasivas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Maurice Leponce Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecology unit, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium
  • Rafael Achury University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA
  • Andrew Suarez University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA
  • Rogerio Silva Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi
  • Carolina Paris Departamento Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Universidad de Buenos Aires

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v62i2.213-227

Keywords:

Ant biogeography, Atlantic Forest, Faunistic Surveys, Neotropical ants

Abstract

We describe the ant fauna of Iguazú National Park (INP), a region of high biodiversity and endemism in northeastern Argentina that includes the southernmost protected area of the Atlantic Forest (AF).  Ants were sampled over seven periods from 1998 to 2011 using a variety of techniques. We also surveyed museum collections and the scientific literature to obtain additional records of ants from INP. In addition to providing a species list, we compare ant composition of INP to other sites in the Upper Paraná, Serra do Mar Coastal Forest and Araucaria eco-regions.  A total of 165 ant species belonging to 57 genera are reported; 67 species are new records for Misiones Province and 48 species are reported from Argentina for the first time. Alto Paraná and Canindeyú departments in Paraguay present the most similar ant fauna to INP. Serra da Bodoquena in Brazil showed higher similarity with the Upper Paraná AF eco-region, despite that Serra da Bodoquena is composed of a mix of eco-regions. Ant diversity was lower in Upper Paraná than in Serra do Mar Coastal Forest eco-region. This difference may result from higher primary productivity and a greater altitudinal variation in the coastal region.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Agosti, D., Majer, J.D., Alonso, L., & Schultz, T.R. (2000). Ants: standard methods for measuring and monitoring biodiversity Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, USA.

Andersen A.N. & Majer, J.D. (2004). Ants Show the Way Down Under: Invertebrates as Bioindicators in Land Management. Front. Ecol. Environ. 2 (6), 291-298. doi: 10.1890/1540-9295(2004)002[0292:ASTWDU]2.0.CO;2

Bihn, J. H., Verhaagh, M., Brändle, M. & Brandl, R. (2008). Do secondary forests act as refuges for old growth forest animals? Recovery of ant diversity in the Atlantic forest of Brazil. Biol. Conserv. 141 (3), 733-743. doi: 10.1016/j.biocom.2007.12.028

Bihn J. H., Gebauer G. & Brandl R. (2010). Loss of functional diversity of ant assemblages in secondary tropical forest. Ecology. 91 (3), 782-792. doi: 10.1890/08-1276.1

Bolton, B. (2014). An online catalog of the ants of the world. Available from http://antcat.org. (accessed date: April, 2014)

Borgmeier, T. (1955). Die Wanderameisen der neotropischen Region. Stud. Entomol. 3, 1-720.

Brandão, C.R.F. (1991). An addendum at the abridged catalogue of the neotropical ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Rev. Bras. Entomol. 35 (2), 319-412

Brown, K.S. & Freitas, A.V.L. (2000). Atlantic Forest Butterflies: Indicators for Landscape Conservation. Biotropica, 32 (4b), 934-956. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2000.tb00631.x

Bruch, C. (1914). Catálogo sistemático de los formícidos argentinos. Rev. Mus. La Plata 19:211-234.

Calcaterra, L.A., Cuezzo, F., Cabrera, S.M. & Briano, J. A. (2010). Ground ant diversity (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Iberá Nature Reserve, the largest wetland of Argentina. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 103 (1), 71-83. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1603/008.103.0110

Calcaterra, L. A., Cabrera, S. M, & Briano J. A. (2014). Co-occurrence of native ants in east-central Argentina, a source of invasive species. Insect Conservation and Diversity (submitted).

Chiarello, A.G. (2000). Density and population size of mammals in remnants of Brazilian Atlantic forest. Conserv. Biol. 14 (6), 1649-1657. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2000.99071.x

Colwell, R.K., Chao, A., Gotelli, N.J., Lin, S.Y., Mao, C.X., Chazdon, R.L. & Longino, J.T. (2012). Models and estimators linking individual-based and sample-based rarefaction, extrapolation and comparison of assemblages. J. Plant Ecol. 5 (1), 3-21. doi: 10.1093/jpe/rtr044

Colwell, R.K. (2013). EstimateS: Statistical estimation of species richness and shared species from samples. Version 9. Persistent URL .

Cuezzo, F. (1998). Formicidae. En: Morrone, J.J. & S. Coscarón (eds.), Diversidad de Artrópodos Argentinos. Una perspectiva biotaxonómica. Ediciones Sur, La Plata, (pp. 452-462).

Delabie, J.H.C, Agosti, D. & Nascimento, I.C. (2000). Litter ant communoties of the Brazilian Atlantic rain forest region, p 1-17. In: D. Agosti, JD Majer, LT Alonso & T Schultz (eds). Sampling ground-dwelling ants: case studies from the world’s rain forest. Curtin University, School of Environmental Biology Bulletin n°18, Perth, Australia.

Del-Toro, I., Relena R.R. & Shannon L.P. (2012). The little things that run the world revisited: a review of ant-mediated ecosystem services and disservices (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecol. News 17, 133-146.

Devoto, F. & Rothkugel, M. (1936). Informe sobre los bosques del Parque Nacional Iguazú. Ext. Bol. Min. Agric. Nac., XXXVII (1-4), 1-99

Di Bittetti, M., Placci, G. & Dietz, L.A. (2003). A biodiversity vision for the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest eco-region: designing a biodiversity conservation landscape and setting priorities for conservation action. Washington, DC: World Wildlife Fund.

Di Bitetti, M. (2009). Estacionalidad en la abundancia de artrópodos del sotobosque en el Parque Nacional Iguazú, Argentina. In: Contribuciones para la conservación y manejo en el Parque Nacional Iguazú, editado por Carpinetti B & M Garciarena. Administración de Parques Nacionales. Buenos Aires, Argentina. (pp. 191-204).

Donoso, D.A. & Ramón, G. (2009). Composition of a high diversity leaf litter ant community (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from an Ecuadorian pre-montane rainforest. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fr. 45 (4), 487-499. doi: 10.1080/00379271.2009.10697631

Dunn, R.R., Sanders, N.J., Fitzpatrick, M.C., Laurent, E., Lessard, J.P., Agosti, D., Andersen, A.N., Brühl, C.A., Cerdá, X., Ellison, A.M., Fisher, B.L., Gibb, H., Gotelli, N.J., Gove, A.D., Guénard, B., Janda, M., Kaspari, M., Longino, J.T., Majer, J.D., McGlynn, T.P., Menke, S.B., Parr, C.L., Philpott, S.M., Pfeiffer, M., Retana, J., Suarez, A.V., and Vasconcelos, H.L. (2007). Global ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) biodiversity and biogeography-a new database and its possibilities. Myrmecol. News 10, 77-83.

Emery, C. (1906). Studi sulle formiche della fauna neotropica. XXVI. Bull. Soc. Entomol. Italiana 37:107-194.

Feitosa, R. M.; Brandão, C. R. F. 2008. A taxonomic revision of the Neotropical myrmicine ant genus Lachnomyrmex Wheeler (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 1890:1-49. [2008-10-01]

Fernández, F., & Sendoya, S. (2004). Special issue: List of Neotropical

Ants. Número monográfico: Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana. 5 (1), 3-93

Folgarait F. (1998). Ant biodiversity and its relationship to ecosystem functioning: a review. J. Biodivers. Conserv. 7 (9), 1221-1244.

Galindo-Leal & Câmara, G. (eds) 2005. Mata Atlântica. Biodiversidade, Ameaças e Perspectivas. Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica. Conservação Internacional. Centro de Ciências Aplicadas à Biodiversidade, Belo Horizonte, p 160.

García Fernández, J. (2002). El Corredor Verde de Misiones: una experiencia de planificación a escala bio-regional. In: R. Burkart, J. P. Cinto, J. C. Chébez, J. García Fernández, M. Jager & E. Riegelhaupt (Editors). La Selva Misionera: Opciones para su Conservación y Uso Sustentable. FUCEMA, Buenos Aires, pp. 17-71.

Gotelli, N.J. & Colwell, R.K. (2001). Quantifying biodiversity: procedures and pitfalls in the measurement and comparison of species richness. Ecol. Lett. 4(4), 379-391.

Hammer, O., Harper, D.A.T. & Ryan, P.D. (2001). PAST: Paleontological Statistics software package for education and data analysis. Paleontol. Electronica 4 (1), 9 pp.

Hanisch, P.E (2013). Diversidad de hormigas (Hymenopera: Formicidae) epigeas e hipogeas del Parque Nacional Iguazú. Tesis de Licenciatura. UBA

Holway D.A., Lach L., Suarez A.V., Tsutsui N.D., & Case T.J. (2002). The

causes and consequences of ant invasions. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 33, 181-233. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.33.010802.150444

Kaspari, M., O'Donnell, S., & Kercher, J.R. (2000). Energy, density, and constraints to species richness: ant assemblages along a productivity gradient. T. Am. Nat. 155 (2), 280-293.

Kempf, W.W. (1959). A revision of the Neotropical ant genus Monacis Roger (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Stud. Entomol. 2, 225-270.

Kempf, W.W. (1972). Catálogo abreviado das formigas da região

Neotropical. Stud. Entomol. 15, 3-344.

Ketterl, J., Verhaagh, M., & Dietz, B.H. (2004). Eurhopalothrix depressa

sp. n.(Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from southern Brazil with a key to the Neotropical taxa of the genus. Stud. Neotrop. Fauna E. 39 (1), 45-48. doi: 10.1080/01650520412331270954

Kremen, C., Cameron, A., Moilanen, A., Phillips, S.J., Thomas, C.D., Beentje, H., Bransfield, J., Fisher, B.L., Glaw, F., Good, T.C., Harper, G.J., Hijmans, R.J., Lees, D.C., Louis Jr., E., Nussbaum, R.A., Raxworthy, C.J., Razafimpahana, A., Schatz, G.E., Vences, M., Vieites, D.R., Wright, P.C. & Zjhra, M.L. (2008). Aligning conservation priorities across taxa in madagascar with high-resolution planning tools. Science. 320: 222-226. doi: 10.1126/science.1155193

Kusnezov, N. (1952). El género Pheidole en la Argentina (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Acta Zool. Lilloana 12:5-88.

Kusnezov, N. (1953). Lista de las hormigas de Tucumán con descripción de dos nuevos géneros (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Acta Zool. Lilloana 13:327-339.

Kusnezov, N. (1962). El vuelo nupcial de las hormigas. Acta Zool. Lilloana 18:385-442.

Kusnezov, N. (1969). Nuevas especies de hormigas. Acta Zool. Lilloana 24:33-38.

Kusnezov, N. (1978). Hormigas argentinas: clave para su identificación. Miscelánea. Revised edition of Kusnezov (1956a). Golbach, R. (ed). Instituto Miguel Lillo. 61, 1-147 .

Legendre, P., & Vaudor, A. (1991). The R package: multidimensional analysis, spatial analysis. Département de sciences biologiques, Université de Montréal, 142.

Leponce, M., Theunis, L., Delabie, J. H., & Roisin, Y. (2004). Scale

dependence of diversity measures in a leaf-litter ant assemblage. Ecography, 27 (2), 253-267. doi: 10.1111/j.0906-7590.2004.03715.x

Longino, J.T., Coddington, J. & Colwell, R.K. (2002). The ant fauna of a tropical rain forest: estimating species richness three different ways. Ecology, 83 (3), 689-702. doi: 10.1890/0012-9658(2002)083[0689:TAFOAT]2.0.CO;2

MacCune, B., and M. J. Mefford. (1999). PC-ORD. Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data, Version 4. MjM Software Design, Gleneden Beach, Oregon, USA.

MacKay, W.P., MacKay, E. (2010). The systematics and biology of the New World ants of the genus Pachycondyla (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, xii+642 pp.

Maechler, M., Rousseeuw, P., Struyf, A., Hubert, M., Hornik, K. (2014). Cluster: Cluster Analysis Basics and Extensions. R package version 1.15.3.

McGlynn, T.P.(1999)The worldwide transport of ants: geographic distribution and Ecological invasions. J. Biogeogr. 26, 535-548.

Myers, N., Mittermeier, R. A., Mittermeier, C. G., Da Fonseca, G. A. & Kent, J. (2000). Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature, 403 (6772), 853-858. doi:10.1038/35002501

Oksanen, J., Blanchet F. G., Kindt R., Legendre P., Minchin P. R., O'Hara R. B., Simpson G. L., Solymos P., Stevens M., Henry H. & Wagner H. (2014). Vegan: Community Ecology. Package. R package version 2.2-0. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=vegan

Olson, D.M. & Dinerstein, E. (2002). The Global 200: Priority eco-regions for global conservation. Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 89 (2), 199-224. doi: 10.2307/3298564

Pais, M.P. & Varanda, E.M. (2010). Arthropod recolonization in the restoration of a semideciduous forest in southeastern Brazil. Neotrop. entomol. 39 (2), 198-206. doi:10.1590/S1519-566X2010000200009

R Core Team. (2014). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL http://www.R-project.org/.

Ribas, C.R., Campos, R.B.F., Schmidt, F.S. & Solar, R.R.C. (2011). Ants as indicators in Brazil: A review with suggestions to improve the use of ants in environmental monitoring programs. Psyche. 2012. Doi:10.1155/2012/636749

Ribeiro, M.C., Metzger, J.P., Martensen, A.C., Ponzoni, F.J., Hirota, M.M. (2009). The Brazilian Atlantic Forest: How much is left, and how is the remaining forest distributed? Implications for conservation. Biol. Conserv. 142 (6), 1141–1153. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-20992-5_21

Sanders, N.J. (2002). Elevational gradients in ant species richness: area, geometry, and Rapoport's rule. Ecography, 25 (1), 25-32. doi: 10.1034/j.1600-0587.2002.250104.x

Schmidt, F.A., Feitosa, R.M., De Moraes Rezende, F. & Silva, J. (2013). News on the enigmatic ant genus Anillidris (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Dolichoderinae: Leptomyrmecini). Myrmecol. News 19, 25-30

Schmidt, C.A. & Shattuck, S.O. (2014). The higher classification of the ant subfamily Ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with a review of ponerine ecology and behavior. Zootaxa, 3817 (1), 1-242. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3817.1.1

Shattuck, S.O. (1994). Taxonomic catalog of the ant subfamilies Aneuretinae and Dolichoderinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). University of California Publications in Entomology 112:i-xix, 1-241.

Silva, R.R.D. & Silvestre, R. (2004). Riqueza da fauna de formigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) que habita as camadas superficiais do solo em Seara, Santa Catarina. Pap. Avulsos Zool. (São Paulo), 44 (1), 1-11. doi: 10.1590/S0031-10492004000100001

Silva, R. R., Machado Feitosa, R. S., & Eberhardt, F. (2007). Reduced ant diversity along a habitat regeneration gradient in the southern Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Forest Ecol. Manag. 240 (1), 61-69. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2006.12.002

Silva, R.R. & Brandão, C.R.F. (2014). Ecosystem-Wide Morphological Structure of Leaf-Litter Ant Communities along a Tropical Latitudinal Gradient. PloS One. 9 (3), e93049. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0093049

Silvestre, R., Demétrio, M.F. & Delabie, J.H. (2012). Community structure of leaf-litter ants in a neotropical dry forest: A biogeographic approach to explain betadiversity. Psyche, 2012, 1-15. doi:10.1155/2012/306925

Small, G.E., Torres, P.J., Schweizer, L M., Duff, J.H. & Pringle, C.M. (2013). Importance of terrestrial arthropods as subsidies in lowland Neotropical rain forest stream ecosystems. Biotropica, 45(1), 80-87. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2012.00896.x

Solomon, S.E., Mueller, U.G., Schultz, T.R., Currie, C.R., Price, S.L., da Silva-Pinhati, Oliveira da Silva-Pinhati, Bacci, M. & Vasconcelos, H.L. (2004). Nesting biology of the fungus growing ants Mycetarotes Emery (Attini, Formicidae). Insectes Sociaux 51(4), 333-338.

Stevens, S.M. and Husband T.P. (1998). The influence of edge on small mammals: evidence from Brazilian Atlantic forest fragments, Biol. Conserv. 85, 1-8. doi:10.1016/S0006-3207(98)00003-2

Srur M., Gatti F., Benesovsky V., Herrera J., Melzew R. & Camposano M. (2007). Identificación, caracterización y mapeo de los ambientes del Parque Nacional Iguazú. CIES, Delegación Técnica Regional NEA, APN

Underwood, E.C. & Brian L.F. (2006). The role of ants in conservation monitoring: if, when, and how. Biol. Conserv. 132, (2), 166-182. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2006.03.022

Theunis, L., Gilbert, M., Roisin, Y. & Leponce, M. (2005). Spatial structure of litter-dwelling ant distribution in a subtropical dry forest. Insectes sociaux 52(4), 366-377.

Underwood, E.C. & Fisher B.L.F. (2006).The role of ants in conservation monitoring: if, when, and how. Biol.Conserv. 132, (2), 166-182. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2006.03.022

Trager, M.D., Bhotika, S., Hostetler, J.A., Andrade, G.V., Rodriguez-Cabal, M.A., McKeon, C. S. & Bolker, B.M. (2010). Benefits for plants in ant-plant protective mutualisms: a meta-analysis. PLoS One, 5 (12), e14308. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0014308

Tillberg, C.V., Edmonds, B., Freauff, A., Hanisch P.E., Paris, C., Smith, C.R., Tsutsui, N. D., Wills, B.D., Wittman, S.E & Suarez A.V. (2014). Foraging Ecology of the Tropical Giant Hunting Ant Dinoponera australis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) —Evaluating Mechanisms for High Abundance. Biotropica, 46 (2), 229–237. doi: 10.1111/btp.12097

Vittar, F. (2008). Hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de la

Mesopotamia Argentina. INSUGEO, Miscelánea, 17(2): 447-466.

Ward, D.F. (2000) Broad-scale patterns of diversity in leaf litter ant communities. In D. Agosti, J.D. Majer, L.E. Alonso, and T.R. Schultz, eds. Ants: standard methods for measuring and monitoring biodiversity, pp. 99-121. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

Wild, A. (2007). A catalogue of the ants of Paraguay (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa, 1622, 1-55.

Wilson, E.O. (2003). Pheidole in the New World: a dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus (Vol. 1). Harvard University Press.

Wilson, E.O. & Hölldobler B. (2005). The rise of the ants: A phylogenetic and ecological explanation. P. Natl. Acad. Sci. 102 (21), 7411-7414. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0502264102

Downloads

Published

2015-06-30

How to Cite

Hanisch, P. E., Calcaterra, L., Leponce, M., Achury, R., Suarez, A., Silva, R., & Paris, C. (2015). Check list of ground-dwelling ant diversity (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Iguazú National Park with a comparison at regional scale. Sociobiology, 62(2), 213–227. https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v62i2.213-227

Issue

Section

Research Article - Ants

Most read articles by the same author(s)