| Cyatta | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Attini |
| Genus: | Cyatta Sosa-Calvo et al., 2013 |
| Species: | C. abscondita |
| Binomial name | |
| Cyatta abscondita Sosa-Calvo et al., 2013 | |
Cyatta is a genus of ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae containing the single species Cyatta abscondita. It is considered the most recent ancestor of all fungus-farming ants and a living fossil. [1]
Cyatta is a neologism constructed in part from the Brazilian Tupi language word Cy, meaning "sister," referring to its status, along with the genus Kalathomyrmex , as the sister clade to the remaining genera of the informal clade Neoattini, to which the genus Atta , the most conspicuous member of the Neoattini, belongs. The specific name abscondita refers to the exceedingly secretive nature of this species, which, after being recognized from a few rare specimens, proved frustratingly elusive during multiple attempts to locate it in the field. [2]
In 2003, a single stray worker of C. abscondita was taken in a pitfall trap as part of an ant survey conducted at the Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural Serra das Almas, Crateús, Ceará, Brazil, a relatively undisturbed area of Caatinga, a biome characterized by deciduous thorny woodland vegetation. The specimen was deposited in the Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo (MZUSP) ant collection, where it was at first associated with the Mycetophylax species group, but subsequently recognized as a new neoattine genus. This isolated specimen inspired the first attempt to locate C. abscondita in the field in Serra das Almas in 2009. Unfortunately, it was the end of the rainy season and the soil was covered by a dense layer of grass, impairing observations of all small and inconspicuous ants. Visual searching and leaf-litter extraction failed to locate additional specimens, as did subsequent surveys at the same locality. [3]
In 2008, two workers were taken in pitfall traps in the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) Cerrado preserve, near Fazenda Água Limpa (FAL) in Brasília, Federal District, Brazil. These specimens, deposited in the MZUSP, inspired attempts to locate the species at this locality beginning in 2009. The first such attempt yielded only the collection of a series of stray workers and an unsuccessful nest excavation; however, subsequent visits resulted in the excavations of multiple nests and collections of gynes, larvae, and cultivated fungi. [3]
The only known male of the species was collected in 2011 from two nests of C. abscondita while excavating a nest of Mycocepurus goeldii in the Broa Preserve, Itirapina, São Paulo, Brazil. [3]
The earliest known collection of C. abscondita was that of a stray worker taken in a leaf-litter sample in Paineiras, Minas Gerais, in 1999, only recently discovered in the entomological collection at MZUSP and recognized as belonging to this species. Most recently, in 2011, two workers of C. abscondita were recovered from pitfall traps in fragments of semideciduous forests in the Sales and Pindorama municipalities in northwestern São Paulo state. This history of discovery indicates that C. abscondita is rarely collected by traditional methods. The cryptic nature of foragers and of nest entrances makes it almost invisible to traditional hand collecting. The rarity of individuals in pitfall and leaf-litter samples remains puzzling, since the concentrations of nests encountered at FAL and Broa Preserve suggest that it is locally abundant. [3]
Results of molecular phylogenetic analyses incorporating four nuclear gene sequences from Cyatta abscondita confirm the previous finding that the tribe Attini is divided by an ancient divergence into two major clades, the Paleoattini and the Neoattini. Cyatta abscondita occupies a relatively isolated position in the latter clade, distantly related to the monotypic genus Kalathomyrmex, the result of an early divergence in the Neoattini. Its phylogenetic position, nested well within the paraphyletic group of "lower attine ants," strongly supports the hypothesis that C. abscondita practices "lower attine agriculture". [4]
Leafcutter ants, a non-generic name, are any of 47 species of leaf-chewing ants belonging to the two genera Atta and Acromyrmex, within the tribe Attini. These species of tropical, fungus-growing ants are all endemic to South and Central America, Mexico, and parts of the southern United States. Leafcutter ants can carry twenty times their body weight and cut and process fresh vegetation to serve as the nutritional substrate for their fungal cultivates.
Fungus-growing ants comprise all the known fungus-growing ant species participating in ant–fungus mutualism. They are known for cutting grasses and leaves, carrying them to their colonies' nests, and using them to grow fungus on which they later feed.
The ant–fungus mutualism is a symbiosis seen between certain ant and fungal species, in which ants actively cultivate fungus much like humans farm crops as a food source. There is only evidence of two instances in which this form of agriculture evolved in ants resulting in a dependence on fungi for food. These instances were the attine ants and some ants that are part of the Megalomyrmex genus. In some species, the ants and fungi are dependent on each other for survival. This type of codependency is prevalent among herbivores who rely on plant material for nutrition. The fungus’ ability to convert the plant material into a food source accessible to their host makes them the ideal partner. The leafcutter ant is a well-known example of this symbiosis. Leafcutter ants species can be found in southern South America up to the United States. However, ants are not the only ground-dwelling arthropods which have developed symbioses with fungi. A similar mutualism with fungi is also noted in termites within the subfamily Macrotermitinae which are widely distributed throughout the Old World tropics with the highest diversity in Africa.
Acromyrmex is a genus of New World ants of the subfamily Myrmicinae. This genus is found in South America and parts of Central America and the Caribbean Islands, and contains 33 known species. Commonly known as "leafcutter ants" they comprise one of the two genera of advanced attines within the tribe Attini, along with Atta.
Mycocepurus smithii is a species of fungus-growing ant from Latin America. This species is widely distributed geographically and can be found from Mexico in the north to Argentina in the south, as well as on some Caribbean Islands. It lives in a variety of forested habitats and associated open areas. Two studies published in 2009 demonstrated that some populations of the species consist exclusively of females which reproduce via thelytokous parthenogenesis. A detailed study found evidence of sexual reproduction in some populations in the Brazilian Amazon. Accordingly, M. smithii consists of a mosaic of sexually and asexually reproducing populations. In asexual populations all ants in a single colony are female clones of the queen. Inside the colony, the ants cultivate a garden of fungus grown with pieces of dead vegetable matter, dead insects, and insect droppings.
Acromyrmex striatus is a species of the leaf-cutter ants found in the Neotropics.
Cyphomyrmex is a genus of fungus-growing ants found primarily in South and Central America. However, some species do come up to the southern portion of North America. They grow a variety of fungi in the tribe Leucocoprineae. Most fungal gardens are grown in small nodules, some species to cultivate entire mycelium, though. Colonies are monogynous and are relatively small with about 100 workers on average.
Apterostigma is a genus of New World ants of the subfamily Myrmicinae. Two species have been described from fossils preserved in Dominican amber, while the others are extant. They are fungus-growing ants, though, unlike the majority of other species in Attini who grow Lepiotaceae, some species have begun cultivating Tricholomataceae.
The Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo is a public natural history museum located in the historic Ipiranga district of São Paulo, Brazil. The MZUSP is an educational and research institution that is part of the University of São Paulo. The museum began at the end of the 19th century as part of the Museu Paulista; in 1941, it moved into a dedicated building. In 1969 the museum became a part of the University of São Paulo, receiving its current name.
Tatuidris, or armadillo ant, is a rare genus of ants consisting of a single species, Tatuidris tatusia. The ants are small in size and inhabit the leaf litter of Neotropical forests in Central and South America, from Mexico to Brazil. Workers are ferruginous-colored to dark red and present a distinctive morphology, consisting of a shield-like head with a broad vertex, ventrally-turned heavy mandibles which do not overlap at full closure, and unique among ants – an antenna socket apparatus sitting upside-down. Little is known about the biology of the ants, but they are likely nocturnal and specialist predators.
Paramycetophylax is a genus of fungus-growing ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. It contains the single species Paramycetophylax bruchi, known only from Argentina. Workers collect leaflets from Prosopis flexuosa that they bring back to the nest to act as substrate for the fungus.
Daceton boltoni is a Neotropical species of arboreal ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. The species occurs in Peru and Brazil and is similar to its sister species, D. armigerum.
Daceton armigerum is a Neotropical species of arboreal ants, distributed throughout northern South America. D. armigerum combines several traits generally noted in some other arboreal ants i.e., populous colonies, large and/or polydomous nests, intra- and interspecific aggressiveness, trophobiosis, and capturing prey by spread-eagling them.
Megalomyrmex mondaboroides is a Neotropical species of ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae. Megalomyrmex mondaboroides occurs in lowland wet forest habitats in Panama and Costa Rica. Colonies have been collected in the nests of small attines, primarily Cyphomyrmex costatus and Apterostigma goniodes. In Costa Rica a worker was collected in a Winkler sample of sifted leaf litter.
Sphinctomyrmex stali is a Neotropical species of ants in the subfamily Dorylinae. Mayr described the genus Sphinctomyrmex with S. stali as its type species, based on a single dealate gyne. However, except for the holotype, there are no records of normal (alate) gynes for S. stali. All reproductive females collected after the original description are ergatoids.
Mycocepurus castrator is a species of parasitic ant, in the genus Mycocepurus, native to Brazil. Described in 2010, the species is a workerless and obligate parasite of the related ant Mycocepurus goeldii. It is known only from Rio Claro, Brazil, and has only been found in nests of M. goeldii.
Escovopsis is a genus of seven formally acknowledged parasitic microfungus species that rely on other fungi to be their hosts. This genus formally circumscribed with a single identified species in 1990; in 2013 three other species were added.
Escovopsis aspergilloides is a species of fungus that was rediscovered in 1995 by mycologists Keith A. Seifert, Robert A. Samson and Ignacio Chapela. Escovopsis aspergilloides co-exist in a symbiotic relationship with attini ants - fungus-growing ants. The highly evolved, ancient ant-fungus mutualism has become a model system in the study of symbiosis. In spite of this, the genus Escovopsis was not proposed until 1990 and the first two species were not formally described until the 1990s: E. weberi by Muchovej and Della Lucia in 1990 E. aspergilloides by Seifert, Samson and Chapela in 1995.
Mycetomoellerius turrifex is a species of fungus farming ant in the myrmicine genus Mycetomoellerius. The species was formerly placed in the genus Trachymyrmex, but was moved to the newly erected genus Mycetomoellerius by Solomon et al (2019) based on molecular phylogenetic analysis.
Leucoagaricus gongylophorus is a fungus in the family Agaricaceae which is cultivated by certain leafcutter ants. Like other species of fungi cultivated by ants, L. gongylophorus produces gongylidia, nutrient-rich hyphal swellings upon which the ants feed. Production of mushrooms occurs only once ants abandon the nest. L. gongylophorus is farmed by leaf cutter ant species belonging to the genera Atta and Acromyrmex, amongst others.
This article incorporates text from a scholarly publication published under a copyright license that allows anyone to reuse, revise, remix and redistribute the materials in any form for any purpose: Sosa-Calvo, J.; Schultz, T. R.; Brandão, C. R. F.; Klingenberg, C.; Feitosa, R. M.; Rabeling, C.; Bacci, M. C.; Lopes, C. T.; Vasconcelos, H. L. (2013). "Cyatta abscondita: Taxonomy, Evolution, and Natural History of a New Fungus-Farming Ant Genus from Brazil". PLOS ONE. 8 (11): e80498. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...880498S. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080498 . PMC 3829880 . PMID 24260403. Please check the source for the exact licensing terms.