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Fungus-Growing Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) on Santa Catarina Island, Brazh: Patterns of Occurrence

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Fungus-Growing Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) on Santa Catarina Island, Brazh: Patterns of Occurrence Rev. Bio!. Trop., 48(2/3): 643-646, 2000 www.ucr.ac.cr Www.ots.ac.cr www.ots.duke.edu Fungus-growing ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) on Santa Catarina Island, BrazH: patterns of occurrence Benedito Cortés Lopes! & Harold Gordon Fowler 1 Departamento de Ecologia e Zoologia, Centro de Ciencias Biológicas, Universídade Federal de Santa Catarina, C.P. 476, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil, CEP 88010-970, Fax (048) 3319672, e-mail: [email protected]; 2 Departamento de Ecología, Instituto de Biociencias, UNESP, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil, CEP 13506-900, e-mail: [email protected] Received 19-VIl-1999 Corrected 18-1-2000 Accepted 4-11-2000. Abstract: A taxonomic survey on fungus-growing ants (Attini) was made at 14 beaches on Santa Catarina Is­ land (SC), Brazil. The samplingswere manual, in soil or Iitterfall, in the following habitats: sandy beach, her­ baceous vegetation and shrubby vegetation. From 12 species of Attini (ten of Acromynnex Mayr and two of Cyp­ homyrmex Mayr), the most frequent were Cyphomynnex morschi Emery andAcromynnex crassispinus Forel, collected, respectively, on eight and ten of the monitored beaches. Altogether, Sorensen's simílarity coefficients were hígh (range: 0.59-0.80), in spite of the lower numbers of ant species on sandy beaches. Key words: Fungus-growing ants, beaches, Santa Catarinalsland, Brazil, Attini. The tribe Attini, that comprises the fun­ SantaCatarina Island (27° 10' and27° 50' S; 48° gus-growingants -and the more specialized 25' and48° 35'W) andb)an association of spe­ Ieaf-cutter� are restricted to the New World, cíes with habitats at the beaches (on the sand, the majority of speciesrecorded from the and in both herbaceous and shrubby vegeta­ Nearctic regíon (Weber 1982, Fowler 1983, tion). Mayhé-Nunes 1995). The samplings were aH manual, in soil or Ferreira-Lima (1945) lists six species of litterfall,beeause the attineants were not attrac­ Acromyrmex and one ófAtta Fabricius for San­ ted . by the usual baits (honey, sardine or tuna ta Catarina State. Among these, only Acromyr­ paste) (Silva andLopes 1997). These samplings mex disciger Mayr and Acromyrmex laticeps were done from 03.14.1996 to 06.07.1996 at 14 Emery are mentioned as occurring on Santa beaches on Santa Catarina Island. The beaehes Catarina Island. Recently, Bonnet and Lopes "profiles" variedfrom zero to five meters aboye (1993) recorded four species of Attini the sea level. The main vegetation species are: (Acromyrmex niger (Fr. Smith), Acromyrmex Blutaparon portulacoides (St.-Hil.) Mears stríatus (Roger), Cyphomyrmex morschi and (Amaranthaceae), Oxypetalumef. banksii R. & Trachymyrmex iheríngi (Emery» at Joaquina S. (Asclepiadaeeae), Conyza ef.a c nadensis (L.) Beach on Santa Catarina Island. Cronq., Porophylurn ruderale (Jacq.) Cass. This paper measures species coexistence (both Compositae), lpomoea imperati (Vahl) for attine ants in Santa Catarina Island. We ca­ Grisebach, lpomoeapes-caprae (L.) R. Brown rried out the following: a) a taxonomíc inven­ (both Convolvulaceae), Remiría marítimaAubl. tory of species of Attini at some beaches on (Cyperaeeae), Panicum racemosum Spr., Pas- 644 REVISTA DE BIOLOGÍA TROPICAL TABLE 1 Species of Attini recorded at the 14 beaches sampled on Santa Catarina Island, Brazil. Ant taxon Sandy beach Herbaceous vegetation Shrubby vegetation Acromyrmex crassispinus (Forel) D,T M,JI, F, G, CBS, A, C BL, D,M. JI, G, T A. disciger (Mayr) BN A. fracticornis (Fore!) JI,A BL,G A. hispidus fal/ax Santschi D,n BL,D,PS BL A. laticeps (Emery) J BL A. niger (Fr. Smith) C A. rugosus (Fr. Smith) D D,PS D.PS A. striatus (Roger) BL O,A BL,O,A A. subterraneus (Porel) BL,PS M,PS Acromyrmex sp. PS Cyphomyrmex morschi Emery D,n BL,D, M, JI, G,CBS, SAL,PS BL,D, M, 'JI, G Cyphomyrmex sp. SAL, C,J, PS Codes: A = Arma�¡¡o,BL = Barra da Lagoa, BN = Beiramar Norte, C = Cacupé, CBS = Caieira da Barra do Sul, D = Da­ niela,F = Forte,° = Oalheta,J = Joaquina,JI = Jurere Internacional,M = Moc;:ambique,PS = Pantano do Sul, SAL = San­ to Antonio de Lisboa e T = Toló. (both Gramineae), Canavalia rosea (Sw.) De., (Fowler 1983, FaIji-Brener and Ruggiero 1994). Dalbergia ecastophyllum (L.) Taub. (both Legu­ The values for Sorensen's similarity coef­ minosae), Dodonaea viscosa (L.) Jacq. (Sapín­ ficients were 0.59 (sand and herbaceous vege­ daceae) and Hydrocotyle bonariensis Lam. tatíon), 0.77 (sand and shrubby vegetatíon) and (Umbelliferae) (Bresolin 1979, Castellani et al. 0.80 (herbaceous vegetation and shrubby vege­ 1999). Each beach was examined for at least th­ tation). These hígh coefficients·reflect the fact ree hours in the above-mentioned habitats. The that all the species that occur on sand, also nest voucher specimens were deposited in the refe­ in sections with herbaceous and shrubby vege­ rence collection of the Departamento de Ecolo­ tation (Table 1). gia e Zoología, CCB/UFSC. The taxonomic The number of Acromyrmex species (ten) identification follows Gon¡;alves (1961), Kempf is high in comparison with other studies in coas­ (1964), Fowler (1988) and Bolton (1994). tal Brazil: three species were recorded by Gon­ For the faunistic comparison in the three ¡;alves and Nunes (1984), two by Bonnet and beach habitats, Sorensen's simílarity coeffi­ Lopes (l993)and two by Fowlerand Pesquero cíent was used (Krebs 1989). (1996). Acromyrmex fracticornis (Forel) and We recorded 12 species of Attini, of Acromyrmex rugosus (Fr. Smith) are new re­ which ten were Acromyrmex and two Cyp­ cords for Santa Catarina State, according to the homyrmex (Table 1). reference list of Della Lucia et al. (1993). Only five species were actually present on Acromyrmex crassispinus was the most frequent the sand itself. This is a restricted location for fo­ species, being collected on ten of the 14 bea­ raging because of vegetation escarcity. In con­ ches, even at thetideline, while foraging among trast, the beaches with herbaceous vegetation organic material. This species is referred to by had all 12 specíes. This ís particularly consistent Gon¡;alves (1961) as the "commonest leaf-cut­ wíth Acromyrmex preference for open habitats ting ant in southem Brazil". INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TROPICAL BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION 645 Most Cyphomyrmex were C. morschi. Fowler, H. G. 1983. Latitudinal gradients and diversity of (Atta Acromyrmex) This speeies eommonly appears in other eoas­ ¡he leaf-cutting ants and (Hyme­ noptera: Formicidae). Rev. BioL Trop. 31: 213-216. tal regions inventories (Kempf 1964, Bonnet and Lopes 1993). Fowler, H. G. 1988. Taxa of the neotropical grass-cutting In regard to future work, we suggest an ants, Acromyrmex (Moellerius) (Hymenoptera: For­ inerease in eolleetions at other beaehes on San­ micidae: Attini). Científica 16: 281 -295. ta Catarina Island as well as colleetions during Fowler, H. G. & M. A. Pesquero. 1996. Ant assemblages other periods of the year. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae of the I1ha do Cardoso State Park and their relation with vegetation types. Rey. Brasil. Biol. 56: 427-433. REFERENCES Gon<;:alves, C. R. 1961. O genero Acromyrmex no Brasil Bolton, B. 1994. Identification Guide to the Ant Genera of (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Studia Ent. 4: 113-180. ¡he World. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massa­ chusetts. 222 p. Gon�aIYes, C. R. & A. M. Nunes. 1984. Formigas de du­ nas e reslingas do Brasil, p. 93-102. In: L. D. Lacer­ & Bonnet, A. & B. C. Lopes. 1993. Formigas de dunas e res­ da, D. S. D. Araujo, R. Cerqueira B. Turcq (eds.). tingas da Praia da Joaquina, Ilha de Santa Catarina, Restingas: origem, estrutura, processos. Uniyersida­ SC (Insecta: Hymenoptera). Biotemas 6: 107-1 14. de Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Brasil. Kempf, W. W. 1964. A revision of the Neotropical fungus­ Bresolin, A. 1979. Flora da restinga da Ilha de Santa Cata­ growing ants of the genus Cyphomyrmex Mayr. Part rina. Ínsula 10: 1-54. 1: Group of strigatus Mayr (Hym., Formicidae). Stu­ dia Ent. 7: 1-44. CastelIani, T. T., C. A. Caus & S. Vieira. 1999. Fenologia de urna comunidade de duna frontal no Sul do Brasil. Krebs, C. J. 1989. Ecological Methodology. Harper & Acta Bol. Bras. 13: 99-1 14. Row, New York, 654 p. Della Lucia, T. M. C., H. G. Fowler & D. D. O. Moreira. Mayhé-Nunes, A. 1. 1995. Filogenía de los Attini (Hym., 1993. Espécies de formigas cortadeiras no Brasil, p. Formicidae): un aporte al conocimiento de las hormi­ 26-31. In: T. M. C. DelIa Lucia (ed.). As formigas gas fungívoras. Ph.D. Thesis, Universidad Simón & cortadeiras. Sociedade de Investiga<;:oes Florestais Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela. Universidade Federal de Vi�osa, Vi<;:osa, Brasil. Silva, R. R. da & B. C. Lopes. 1997. Ants (Hymenoptera: & A. Farji-Brener, A. G. Ruggiero. 1994. Leaf cutting ants Formicidae) from Atlantic rainforest at Santa Catari­ (Atta and Acromyrmex) inhabiting Argentina: pat­ na Island, Brazil: two years of sampling. Rev. Biol. tems in species richness and geographical range si­ Trop. 45: 1641-1648. zes. J. Biogeogr. 21: 391 -399. Weber, N. A. 1982. Fungus ants, p. 255-363. In: H. R. Ferreira-Lima, A. D. 1945. lnsetos litófagos de Santa Ca­ Hermann (ed. ). Social Insects, Academic, New tarina. Bol. Fitossanit. 2: 233-251. York, vol. 4. .
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