Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Recorded in Santa Catarina State, Southern Brazil, with a Discussion of Research Advances and Priorities
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Updated list of ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) recorded in Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil, with a discussion of research advances and priorities Mônica A. Ulysséa1, Carlos E. Cereto2, Félix B. Rosumek3, Rogério R. Silva4 & Benedito C. Lopes3 1Laboratório de Entomologia da Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana. Av. Transnordestina, s/nº. 44036–900 Feira de Santana-BA, Brasil. [email protected] 2Programa de Pós Graduação em Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, 88040–970 Florianópolis-SC, Brasil. [email protected] 3Departamento de Ecologia e Zoologia, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, 88040–970 Florianópolis-SC, Brasil. [email protected]; [email protected] 4Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Seção de Entomologia. Av. Nazaré, 481, Caixa Postal 4249, 04263–000 São Paulo–SP, Brasil. [email protected] ABSTRACT. Updated list of ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) recorded in Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil, with a discussion of research advances and priorities. A first working list of ant species registered in Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil was published recently. Since then, many studies with ants have been conducted in the state. With data compiled from published studies and collections in various regions of the state, we present here an updated list of 366 species (and 17 subspecies) in 70 ant genera in Santa Catarina, along with their geographical distribution in the seven state mesoregions. Two hundred and seven species are recorded in the Oeste mesoregion, followed by Vale do Itajaí (175), Grande Florianópolis (150), Norte (60), Sul (41), Meio Oeste (23) and Planalto Serrano (12). The increase in the number of records since 1999 results from the use of recently adopted sampling methods and techniques in regions and ecosystems poorly known before, and from the availability of new tools for the identification of ants. Our study highlights the Meio Oeste, Planalto Serrano, Sul and Norte mesoregions, as well as the deciduous forest, mangrove, grassland and coastal sand dune ecosystems as priority study areas in order to attain a more complete knowledge of the ant fauna in Santa Catarina State. KEYWORDS. Formicidae; Santa Catarina State; species list. RESUMO. Lista atualizada das espécies de formigas (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) registradas no Estado de Santa Catarina, sul do Brasil, com discussão sobre avanços e prioridades na pesquisa. Uma lista de espécies de formigas registradas em Santa Catarina foi publicada recentemente. Desde então, diversos estudos com formigas foram realizados em várias regiões do Estado. Neste traba- lho, compilamos os dados de trabalhos publicados e de coletas avulsas, e apresentamos uma lista atualizada das espécies de formigas, com menção à distribuição geográfica nas sete mesorregiões de Santa Catarina. São registradas atualmente 366 espécies (e 17 subespécies) de formigas em 70 gêneros no território do Estado de Santa Catarina, sendo que a região Oeste apresenta o maior número de registros (207 espécies), seguida do Vale do Itajaí (175), Grande Florianópolis (150), Norte (60), Sul (41), Meio Oeste (23) e Planalto Serrano (12). O aumento no número de registros em relação à lista de 1999 deve-se principalmente à incorporação recente de métodos de coleta diferenciados e à realização de coletas em regiões e ecossistemas outrora subamostrados, além da disponibilidade de novas ferramentas de identificação. Nosso estudo aponta as mesorregiões Meio Oeste, Planalto Serrano, Sul e Norte, assim como os ecossistemas Florestas Estacionais Deciduais, Mangues, Campos e Restingas, como prioritárias para o aperfeiçoamento do banco de dados da mirmecofauna catarinense. PALAVRAS-CHAVE. Formicidae; Santa Catarina; lista de espécies. Although there are publications in Brazil with regional and the collection of the Museu de Zoologia, Universidade taxonomic lists for many animal groups, Santa Catarina is de São Paulo (MZSP) and listed a total of 342 species and the only state with a list of ant species that occur within its subspecies of ants in the entire state of Santa Catarina, be- borders. The ant fauna of the state of Santa Catarina has been coming an important reference for subsequent myrmecologi- studied since the beginning of the last century, mainly from cal studies. sampling conducted by the naturalist, Fritz Plaumann, who Surveys of species and the creation of taxonomic lists lived in the district of Nova Teutônia, municipality of Seara, are of fundamental importance for the development of sci- Oeste region of the state from 1924 until his death in 1994. entific research and serve as a foundation for conservation During this period, Plaumann created an important collec- projects. Species lists are critical to understanding biodiversity tion of insects, including ants, making western Santa Catarina and species’ distribution patterns, determining the main fac- one of the most well known places with regard to Neotropi- tors that threaten this biodiversity and establishing priorities cal insects. Silva (1999) reviewed the literature at the time for action (Marques et al. 2002; Lewinsohn et al. 2005). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 55(4): 603–611, dezembro, 2011 604 Ulysséa et al. Lists of species occurrence are a key basis for manage- Praia da Joaquina, Praia do Pântano do Sul, Ribeirão da Ilha ment and conservation projects. Determining the area of dis- e Trindade/Florianópolis (Mônica Antunes Ulysséa), Unidade tribution of a given species is one of the criteria used by the de Conservação Desterro/Florianópolis (Carlos Eduardo International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Cereto) and Morro do Cambirela/Palhoça (Cássio Daltrini Resources for determining the level of threat to that species Neto). (IUCN 2001). These criteria have been used to create lists of The nomenclature adopted in the list follows Bolton et endangered faunal species, especially vertebrates, in states al. (2006), with the amendments proposed by Baroni-Urbani in Brazil (Marques et al. 2002; Mikich & Bérnils 2004). The and Andrade (2007) for the tribe Dacetini, Klingenberg and inclusion of invertebrates in lists of threatened species is Brandão (2009) for the Mycetophylax genus-group and La comparatively small due to lack of information on species Polla et al. (2010) for the Prenolepis genus-group. The list distribution (see discussion in Brandão et al. 2008). In the incorporates taxonomic revisions of Cephalotes (De Andrade list of threatened animal species in Rio Grande do Sul, for & Baroni Urbani 1999), Carebara (Fernández 2004), example, only 18 species of insects (of a total of 261 spe- Linepithema (Wild 2007), partially Trachymyrmex (Mayhé- cies) are listed, mostly bees and beetles, with no record of Nunes & Brandão 2002, 2005, 2007) and Wasmannia ants (Marques et al. 2002). In the list for Paraná, only bees (Longino & Fernández 2007). and butterflies are included, accounting for 33 of a total of In the sum total of ant species for each mesoregion and for 163 threatened species (Mikich & Bérnils 2004). On the na- the state, we include subspecies names still recognized as valid, tional list, four ant species are considered endangered spe- although there is a trend toward abandoning the use of subspe- cies among a large majority of other groups (MMA 2003, cies in the taxonomy of ants (Bolton 2003). When only one but see Brandão et al. 2008 for the case of Simopelta minima subspecies is known for the state (as with Solenopsis decipiens Brandão, 1989). abjecta Emery, 1906), this is counted as a species record. Over the past 11 years, several studies have been con- ducted involving ants in different regions of the state of Santa RESULTS Catarina, led by groups of researchers from different univer- sities and national research institutes. In this paper, we up- Currently, there are 366 species and 17 subspecies of ants date the list of ant species known to exist in Santa Catarina, in 70 genera known for the state of Santa Catarina, with the including new information from all recent studies involving mesoregion Oeste being the richest (with 207 species), fol- ants, and review the current state of knowledge of the ant lowed by Vale do Itajaí (175 species), Grande Florianópolis fauna in the state. We believe that our work may stimulate (150 species), Norte (60 species), Sul (41 species), Meio studies on the diversity, taxonomy and biogeography of the Oeste (23 species) and Planalto Serrano (12 species) (Table Neotropical ant fauna, in addition to promoting better-in- I and Fig. 1). formed conservation policies in Santa Catarina State. MATERIAL AND METHODS Table I. Number of species and genera of Formicidae, by subfamily, recorded in Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil. This list of ant species for the state of Santa Catarina was Subfamily Species Genera made by adding data to the original list created by Silva Amblyoponinae 4 2 (1999). These data were obtained from local studies involv- Cerapachyinae 7 4 ing ant fauna surveys conducted in several regions of the Dolichoderinae 18 6 state (Lopes & Fowler 2000; Silva & Silvestre 2000, 2004; Ecitoninae 13 4 Lutinski & Garcia 2005; Schmidt et al. 2005; Lutinski 2008; Ectatomminae 14 3 Rosumek et al. 2008; Iop et al. 2009; Cardoso & Cristiano Formicinae 66 6 2010; Cardoso et al. 2010; Silva & Brandão 2010). Heteroponerinae 8 2 We also consulted the collection of the Laboratório de Myrmicinae 189 32 Biologia de Formigas, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Ponerinae 36 8 for