Arboreal ant colonies as hot-points of cryptic diversity for myrmecophiles the weaver ant camponotus sp. aff. textor and its interaction network with its associates
Introduction: Systematic surveys of macrofaunal diversity within ant colonies are lacking, particularly for ants nesting in microhabitats that are difficult to sample. Species associated with ants are generally small and rarely collected organisms, which makes them more likely to be unnoticed. We assumed that this tendency is greater for arthropod communities in microhabitats with low accessibility, such as those found in the nests of arboreal ants that may constitute a source of cryptic biodiversity. Materials and Methods: We investigated the invertebrate diversity associated with an undescribed, but already threatened, Neotropical Camponotus weaver ant. As most of the common sampling methods used in studies of ant diversity are not suited for evaluating myrmecophile diversity within ant nests, we evaluated the macrofauna within ant nests through exhaustive colony sampling of three nests and examination of more than 80,000 individuals. Results: We identified invertebrates from three classes belonging to 18 taxa, some of which were new to science, and recorded the first instance of the co-occurrence of two brood parasitoid wasp families attacking the same ant host colony. This diversity of ant associates corresponded to a highly complex interaction network. Agonistic interactions prevailed, but the prevalence of myrmecophiles was remarkably low.
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Texto biblioteca |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | Hormigas, Parasitoides, Horismenus myrmecophagus, Pseudochalcura americana, Artfrosur, |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4062527/pdf/pone.0100155.pdf |
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