385 ant diversity in coastal zones of Quintana Roo, Mexico, with special reference to army ants

Abstract

This work was conducted along the Mexican Caribbean coastline on a strip of land with dunes and mangroves separated from upland communities by fossil lagoons. In Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, Mexico, we evaluated the ant diversity and the role of vegetation zonation in the distribution of ant species. We recorded a total of 96 species and 33 genera of ants from a 140 ha area. The Myrmicinae had the most species; Pheidole and Camponotus were the most common genera. The species composition was influenced by the ecological zones and the presence of aggressive ant species. The army ant Eciton burchelli was spatially constrained and bivouacs were recorded only in the mangrove zone, which contained the greatest ant diversity. In a completely flooded mangrove area of the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, we sampled only dry hollowed branches of the red mangrove and the pseudobulbs of an epiphytic orchid in order to determine the role the arboreal stratum plays on ant distribution. By focusing on this ant community, we show that Cephalotes spp. and Pseudomyrmex spp. dominated the dry hollowed branches, while the most frequent inhabitant of the Myrmecophila cristinae pseudobulbs was Dolichoderus bispinosus, an ant species that also nests in bromeliads.