Occurrence of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Banisteriopsis laevifolia (A.Juss.) B.Gates (Malpighiaceae) in São Paulo State, Brazil

Containing approximately 75 genera and 1.300 species, Malpighiaceae is one of the most diverse families of tropical and subtropical lianas and shrubs worldwide, which is predominantly distributed within the neotropics (Anderson, 2013). In Brazil, Malpighiaceae is represented by 44 genera and approximately 561 species distributed throughout the country; however diversity is highest within the Brazilian Savanna, a hotspot for conservation priorities (Mittermeier et al., 2005; Mamede et al., 2015).

Most species of Malpighiaceae have nectar secreting glands in the leaves and bracts, also called extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) (Anderson, 1990). These glands often mediate the ant-plant interaction, both for the food supply to the ants, as well as for the additional benefit of minimizing the adverse effect of herbivores, pathogens and weeds (Fernandes et al., 2005; Trager et al., 2010).

In January 2013, many species of ants were observed on the leaves and bracts of inflorescences of Banisteriopsis laevifolia (A.Juss.) B.Gates (Malpighiaceae) in the Biological Reserve of Mogi Guaçu, municipality of Mogi Guaçu, São Paulo State (22º 18' S; 47º 11' W). The ants collected were preserved in 70% alcohol, identified and compared with the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo (MZUSP) collection, municipality of São Paulo, in São Paulo State. Vouchers were collected from B. laevifolia specimens, using the standardized protocols for the collectition and herborization of botanical material; speciments were deposited in the herbarium of Centro de Ciências Agrárias (CCA) at Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar, HARA herbarium), municipality of Araras, São Paulo State. The species of ants have been filed in the reference collection at the CCA / UFSCar. After reviewing the samples, it has been found that there are three species of ants in two specimens of B. laevifolia (Table 1).

Table 1
Ant species present in Banisteriopsis laevifolia (A.Juss.) B.Gates (Malpighiaceae) in Mogi Guaçu Biological Reserve, São Paulo State, Brazil.

Ant species	Ant subfamily	Plant voucher
Camponotus crassus (Mayr, 1862)	Formicinae	Sebastiani et al. 414 (HARA)
Pseudomyrmex gracilis (Fabricius, 1804)	Pseudomyrmecinae	Sebastiani et al. 414 (HARA)
Cephalotes minutus (Fabricius, 1804)	Myrmicinae	Sebastiani et al. 433 (HARA)

Morais (1980) identified 42 species of ants in the Biological Reserve of Mogi Guaçu, including Camponotus crassus (Mayr, 1862) and Pseudomyrmex gracilis (Fabricius, 1804), but there are no records for Cephalotes minutus (Fabricius, 1804). Alves-Silva et al. (2013) reported that C. crassus are generally observed in EFNs and are extremely aggressive against herbivorous insects as well as other predators. According to Dansa (1989), P. gracilis preferably uses insects (dead or alive) and nectar as a food source, especially EFNs. C. minutus is considered a “generalist Myrmicinae” in relation to resource and habitat use (Andersen, 1995), being less dependent than nectar subdominant ants (Davidson et al., 2003).

In B. laevifolia, the occurrence of C. crassus is previously known (Torezan-Silingardi, 2007). However, this is the first record of P. gracilis and C. minutus for this botanical species.

Acknowledgements

We would to thank the administration of Mogi-Guaçu Biological Reserve for the assistance in field sampling.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  12 Jan 2017
• Date of issue
  July-Sept 2017

History

• Received
  23 Mar 2016
• Accepted
  19 May 2016