Forrageamento de Atta opaciceps Borgmeier, 1939 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) no leste potiguar
Leaf-cutting ants are eusocial insects with distribution in the Americas, with their greatest diversity concentrated in the neotropical region. The Attini tribe is known for its ability to cultivate symbiotic fungus, which they feed on. Among the ants of the Attini tribe, the genus Atta, known as sa...
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| Formato: | bachelorThesis |
| Idioma: | pt_BR |
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Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte
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| Endereço do item: | https://repositorio.ufrn.br/handle/123456789/46091 |
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| Resumo: | Leaf-cutting ants are eusocial insects with distribution in the Americas, with their greatest diversity concentrated in the neotropical region. The Attini tribe is known for its ability to cultivate symbiotic fungus, which they feed on. Among the ants of the Attini tribe, the genus Atta, known as saúvas, has high ecological and economic importance, being considered a pest for several agriculture crops. Leaf-cutting ants can cut leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds and other plant materials to be transported to the nest, to be used as substrate for the growth of the symbiotic fungus, which serves as food for the colony, especially its larvae. Among the species of Atta that occur in Brazil, the Atta opaciceps, known as backlands leaf-cutting ants, is the only one that occurs exclusively in Northeastern Brazil. The aim of this study was to describe the foraging behavior of Atta opaciceps under field conditions. Six nests located at the Escola Agrícola de Jundiaí, in the municipality of Macaíba, were selected to monitor foraging. The foraging flow was observed in each nest, over a period of 24 h, for 10 minutes every two hours, where all the ants that returned with a load at 25 cm from the most active path were counted. To determine the foraging resource, 30 ants were captured in each nest, on each day of collection, on the most active path when they passed 25 cm from the nest entrance. Four classes of workers who participated in the forager were established, based on the measurement of the head width, separated by 1 millimeter. The established classes were: Class 1 (less than 2 mm), class 2 (2.1 to 3 mm), class 3 (3.1 to 4 mm) and class 4 (highest than 4 mm). It was observed that The workers who most participated in foraging were in class 1 and 2 (between 1 mm and 3 mm) .The foraging flow occurred mainly at night, although there was plasticity between the ant nests. |
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