Ant fauna in central Amazonian polyculture systems and forests.

Between July 1997 and March 1999 ants of soil and litter were taken evey three months with core samplers (21 cm ø) in a primary rain fores, a secondary forest and two different systems of polycultures in central Amazonia (Manaus-AM-Brasil) and extracted in Berlese funnels. The collected ats were classified to generic level. Most frequent in all areas were ants of the genera Solenopsis (subfam. Myrmicinae) and Hypoponera (subfam. Ponerinae). the predatory species of Hypoponera represented the biggest part of ant biomass in all areas (20% - 33%), whereas the very abundant mostrly tiny species (<2 mm) of Solenopsis made up only 1,4% - 3,9% of the ant biomass. The biology of these species tiny species is poorly known.