Ants of Hitoy Cerere
Ants of Hitoy Cerere Biological Reserve, Costa Rica
Report by John T. Longino and Michael G. Branstetter, The University of Utah. Student participants: Irene Calderon, Josue Corrales, Krissy Dominguez, Scott Heacox, Josh Kouri, Irene Mata, Mac Pierce, Marianela Solís.
This is a list of the ants of Hitoy Cerere Biological Reserve, Costa Rica, based on Project ADMAC sampling and a 1985 collecting trip by Longino.
Project ADMAC carried out ant sampling in Hitoy Cerere from 10-13 June 2015. All sampling was within 2.5 kilometers of the Reserve entrance. The two transects were between 190 and 250 m elevation. Most baiting and beating samples were between the Reserve entrance buildings and the transect sites. On one day we hiked up to the ridge just south of the entrance, a steep climb to 500 m, followed by a gradual rise along a ridge to a hill peak at 670 m. We took a series of MaxiWinkler samples along this ridge. Longino collected in Hitoy Cerere over a 4-day period in 1985, mostly searching for arboreal ants along the river and near the station buildings. Two MaxiWinklers were taken, along the trail to the ridge, one at 200 m and one at 500 m elevation.
Specimen records have been uploaded to the AntWeb database and are periodically updated. Names in the species list are linked to individual specimen records on AntWeb, from which a link can be followed to the general species page. These specimens function as site-specific vouchers, whose identities may change. The species names in the list are static text on this page. Following the specimen link to AntWeb will allow one to see if the name has changed.
There are at least 335 species, and continued collecting at the site would yield many more. 40% of the species are uniques, known from a single collecting event. 178 species were known prior to ADMAC sampling; ADMAC added 157 species to the list. The fauna is very similar to that of La Selva Biological Station, which has received intensive survey work for decades, and thus relatively few new taxa were discovered. However, a few notable discoveries include:
Leptanilloides: tiny males were found in Malaise samples, similar to males of L. gracilis.
Strumigenys erikae: this species was previously known from two specimens from 1100 m on the Barva Transect. A single specimen was found in one of our transect samples.
Rhopalothrix: two specimens of a distinctive new species were collected in a Winkler sample.
Ant List
Strumigenys brevicornis_complex
Date of this version: 6 April 2016.