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Type: Article
Published: 2017-11-15
Page range: 1-19
Abstract views: 239
PDF downloaded: 137

An assessment of leaf-litter and epigaeic ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) living in different landscapes of the Atlantic Forest Biome in the State of Bahia, Brazil

Universidade Federal da Bahia, Instituto de Biologia, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Biomonitoramento, Rua Barão de Geremoabo, 147, Campus Ondina, 40170-290 Salvador-BA, Brasil;
Universidade Federal do Estado da Bahia - UFBA
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Elmo Borges Azevedo Koch

Laboratório de MirmecologiaCentro de Pesquisas do Cacau - CEPEC/CEPLAC45600-970 Itabuna - Bahia - Brasil
Universidade Federal da Bahia, Instituto de Biologia, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Biomonitoramento, Rua Barão de Geremoabo, 147, Campus Ondina, 40170-290 Salvador-BA, Brasil
Universidade Federal da Bahia, Instituto de Biologia, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Biomonitoramento, Rua Barão de Geremoabo, 147, Campus Ondina, 40170-290 Salvador-BA, Brasil
Laboratório de Mirmecologia, Convênio UESC/CEPLAC, CEPEC-CEPLAC, Km 22, rodovia Ilhéus-Itabuna (BR-415), Ilhéus-BA, Brasil
Neotropical Region diversity remnants conservation Formicidae.

Abstract

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest has a rich biodiversity increasingly threatened by human activities. Since the colonial period, the coast of the state of Bahia is among the most affected regions of Brazil by anthropic pressure. Bahia encloses Atlantic Forest remnants distributed in an area reaching 100-200 km along the east-west axis, by 1,000 km along the north-south axis, parallel to the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. We report hereafter the results of an intensive field survey of leaf litter and epigaeic ants realized in forest remnants of the Atlantic Forest landscapes within the original extension of the biome in 11 localities distributed along four degrees of latitude in the state of Bahia. In each site, 16 plots were collected using pitfall and eight using Winkler traps. We identified 391 ant species belonging to 71 genera and nine subfamilies. Among all species recorded, 21 were common to the whole 11 localities, while 98 species were recorded in a single locality. This study highlights the richness and diversity of epigaeic and leaf-litter ants living in the northern part of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, and is one of the most representative soil ants’ inventories ever done in this biome for a single state of Brazil.