Mycetarotes parallelus

Mycetarotes parallelus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Attini
Genus:	Mycetarotes
Species:	M. parallelus
Binomial name
Mycetarotes parallelus (Emery, 1906) Specimen Label
Synonyms
Atta luederwaldti Forel, 1911

Leal et al. (2011) recorded biometric data on three nests of this species that were found in cerrado of São Paula state, Brazil. They found the ground nests had a mound, contained a single chamber and were at most 16 cm deep. The fungus garden consisted of laminar sponges suspended from the ceiling of the chamber or on plant roots. Worker number averaged 357 ±39 and there was one queen per colony.

Identification

Sanchez et al (2015) - Distinguished by the following characters: two pairs of spines on the mesonotum (where other members of the genus have three pairs), well developed petiolar spines, postpetiole without a tooth near each side of the lateral anterior margin, weakly marked outer frontal carinae branches, and a deep circular impression on the dorsal surface of the postpetiole (Mayhé-Nunes & Brandão 2006). A specimen from Colombia also has an opaque integument, reddish-brown head color, yellowish legs and mesosoma, dark gaster with erect hairs absent and sparse appressed hairs.

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 25.68015° to -27.183°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Argentina, Brazil (type locality), Colombia, Paraguay.

Distribution based on AntMaps

Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.

Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.

Biology

Explore Fungus Growing  For additional details see Fungus growing ants. A handful of ant species (approx. 275 out of the known 15,000 species) have developed the ability to cultivate fungus within their nests. In most species the fungus is used as the sole food source for the larvae and is an important resource for the adults as well. Additionally, in a limited number of cases, the fungus is used to construct part of the nest structure but is not as a food source. These fungus-feeding species are limited to North and South America, extending from the pine barrens of New Jersey, United States, in the north (Trachymyrmex septentrionalis) to the cold deserts in Argentina in the south (several species of Acromyrmex). Species that use fungi in nest construction are known from Europe and Africa (a few species in the genera Crematogaster, Lasius). The details of fungal cultivation are rich and complex. First, a wide variety of materials are used as substrate for fungus cultivating. The so-called lower genera include species that prefer dead vegetation, seeds, flowers, fruits, insect corpses, and feces, which are collected in the vicinity of their nests. The higher genera include non leaf-cutting species that collect mostly fallen leaflets, fruit, and flowers, as well as the leafcutters that collect fresh leaves from shrubs and trees. Second, while the majority of fungi that are farmed by fungus-feeding ants belong to the family Lepiotaceae, mostly the genera Leucoagaricus and Leucocoprinus, other fungi are also involved. Some species utilise fungi in the family Tricholomataceae while a few others cultivate yeast. The fungi used by the higher genera no longer produce spores. Their fungi produce nutritious and swollen hyphal tips (gongylidia) that grow in bundles called staphylae, to specifically feed the ants. Finally, colony size varies tremendously among these ants. Lower taxa mostly live in inconspicuous nests with 100–1000 individuals and relatively small fungus gardens. Higher taxa, in contrast, live in colonies made of 5–10 million ants that live and work within hundreds of interconnected fungus-bearing chambers in huge subterranean nests. Some colonies are so large, they can be seen from satellite photos, measuring up to 600 m3. Based on these habits, and taking phylogenetic information into consideration, these ants can be divided into six biologically distinct agricultural systems (with a list of genera involved in each category): Nest Construction A limited number of species that use fungi in the construction of their nests. some Crematogaster some Lasius Lower Agriculture Practiced by species in the majority of fungus-feeding genera, including those thought to retain more primitive features, which cultivate a wide range of fungal species in the tribe Leucocoprineae. some Apterostigma Cyatta (1 species) some Cyphomyrmex Kalathomyrmex (1 species) Mycocepurus (6 species) Myrmicocrypta (31 species) Mycetarotes (4 species) Mycetosoritis (2 species) Mycetophylax (21 species) Paramycetophylax (1 species) Xerolitor (1 species) Coral Fungus Agriculture Practiced by species in the Apterostigma pilosum species-group, which cultivate fungi within the Pterulaceae. some Apterostigma Yeast Agriculture Practiced by species within the Cyphomyrmex rimosus species-group, which cultivate a distinct clade of leucocoprineaceous fungi derived from the lower attine fungi. some Cyphomyrmex Generalized Higher Agriculture Practiced by species in several genera of non-leaf-cutting "higher attine" ants, which cultivate a distinct clade of leucocoprineaceous fungi separately derived from the lower attine fungi. Mycetomoellerius (31 species) Paratrachymyrmex (9 species) Sericomyrmex (11 species) Trachymyrmex (9 species) Leaf-Cutter Agriculture A subdivision of higher attine agriculture practiced by species within several ecologically dominant genera, which cultivate a single highly derived species of higher attine fungus. Acromyrmex (56 species) Amoimyrmex (3 species) Atta (20 species) Note that the farming habits of Mycetagroicus (4 species) are unknown. Also, while species of Pseudoatta (2 species) are closely related to the fungus-feeding genus Acromyrmex, they are social parasites, living in the nests of their hosts and are not actively involved in fungus growing. ‎

Sanchez et al (2015) - Mycetarotes parallelus is the most widespread and common of all species of the genus (Mayhé-Nunes & Jaffé, 1998), in contrast to the other species of the genus which are uncommon and whose distributions are restricted to specific conditions (Mayhé-Nunes, 1995; Mayhé-Nunes & Lanziotti, 2004). Unlike other Mycetarotes species M. parallelus commonly lives in open habitats, gallery forest, secondary forest, and disturbed habitats (Solomon et al., 2004). This trend is corroborated by our discovery of Mycetarotes workers in a mature oil palm plantation, located in the Colombian Llanos (a seminatural system dominated by grasslands interspersed with wet and dry forests) (Gilory et al., 2014).

Castes

Queen

Images from AntWeb

Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0173983. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by ALWC, Alex L. Wild Collection.

Male

Images from AntWeb

Male (alate). Specimen code casent0173982. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by ALWC, Alex L. Wild Collection.

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

• parallelus. Cyphomyrmex parallelus Emery, 1906c: 161, fig. 23 (w.q.) BRAZIL. Kempf, 1960d: 280 (m.). Combination in C. (Mycetarotes): Emery, 1913b: 251; in Mycetarotes: Kempf, 1960d: 279. Senior synonym of luederwaldti: Kempf, 1960d: 279. See also: Mayhé-Nunes & Brandão, 2006: 468.
• luederwaldti. Atta (Mycocepurus) luederwaldti Forel, 1911c: 293 (w.q.) BRAZIL. Combination in Cyphomyrmex (Mycetarotes): Emery, 1913b: 251; in Mycocepurus: Luederwaldt, 1918: 39. Junior synonym of parallelus: Kempf, 1960d: 279.

Description

Karyotype

• See additional details at the Ant Chromosome Database.

 Explore: Show all Karyotype data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

• 2n = 54, karyotype = 26M+16SM+6A (Brazil) (Cardoso & Cristiano, 2021; Barros et al., 2011).

References

• Albuquerque, E., Prado, L., Andrade-Silva, J., Siqueira, E., Sampaio, K., Alves, D., Brandão, C., Andrade, P., Feitosa, R., Koch, E., Delabie, J., Fernandes, I., Baccaro, F., Souza, J., Almeida, R., Silva, R. 2021. Ants of the State of Pará, Brazil: a historical and comprehensive dataset of a key biodiversity hotspot in the Amazon Basin. Zootaxa 5001, 1–83 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5001.1.1).
• Barros, L.A.C., Mariano, C.S.F., Pompolo, S.G., Delabie, J.H.C. 2011. Citogenética de Attini. In Formigas-Cortadeiras: Da Bioecologia ao Manejo; Della-Lucia, T.M.C., Ed.; UFV: Viçosa, Brazil.
• Calazans, E.G., Costa, F.V.da, Cristiano, M.P., Cardoso, D.C. 2020. Daily dynamics of an ant community in a mountaintop ecosystem. Environmental Entomology 49, 383–390 (doi:10.1093/ee/nvaa011).
• Cantone S. 2018. Winged Ants, The queen. Dichotomous key to genera of winged female ants in the World. The Wings of Ants: morphological and systematic relationships (self-published).
• Cardoso, D. C., Cristiano, M. P. 2021. Karyotype diversity, mode, and tempo of the chromosomal evolution of Attina (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attini): Is there an upper limit to chromosome number? Insects 1212, 1084 (doi:10.3390/insects12121084).
• Emery, C. 1906c [1905]. Studi sulle formiche della fauna neotropica. XXVI. Bull. Soc. Entomol. Ital. 37: 107-194 (page 161, fig. 23 worker, queen described)
• Emery, C. 1913c. Études sur les Myrmicinae. [V-VII.]. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 57: 250-262 (page 251, Combination in C. (Mycetarotes))
• Kempf, W. W. 1960d. A review of the ant genus Mycetarotes Emery (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Rev. Bras. Biol. 20: 277-283 (page 280, male described; page 279, Combination in Mycetarotes, and senior synonym of luederwaldti)
• Leal, I. R., P. S. D. Silva, and P. S. Oliveira. 2011. Natural History and Ecological Correlates of Fungus-Growing Ants (Formicidae: Attini) in the Neotropical Cerrado Savanna. Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 104:901-908. doi:10.1603/an11067
• Moura, M.N., Cardoso, D.C., Cristiano, M.P. 2020. The tight genome size of ants: diversity and evolution under ancestral state reconstruction and base composition. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, zlaa135 (doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa135).
• Ronque, M.U.V., Lyra, M.L., Migliorini, G.H., Bacci, M., Oliveira, P.S. 2020. Symbiotic bacterial communities in rainforest fungus-farming ants: evidence for species and colony specificity. Scientific Reports 10, 10172 (doi:10.1038/S41598-020-66772-6).
• Sánchez, A.F., Medina, C.A. & Prescott, G.W. 2015. First record of the genus Mycetarotes (Emery, 1913) (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) from Colombia. Sociobiology 62(2): 331-333.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Emery C. 1906. Studi sulle formiche della fauna neotropica. XXVI. Bullettino della Società Entomologica Italiana 37: 107-194.
• Fernandes T. T., R. R. Silva, D. Rodrigues de Souza-Campana, O. Guilherme Morais da Silva, and M. Santina de Castro Morini. 2019. Winged ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) presence in twigs on the leaf litter of Atlantic Forest. Biota Neotropica 19(3): http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1676-0611-bn-2018-0694
• Forel A. 1911. Ameisen des Herrn Prof. v. Ihering aus Brasilien (Sao Paulo usw.) nebst einigen anderen aus Südamerika und Afrika (Hym.). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 1911: 285-312.
• Kempf W. W. 1960. A review of the ant genus Mycetarotes Emery (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Revista Brasileira de Biologia 20: 277-283.
• Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
• Klingenberg, C. and C.R.F. Brandao. 2005. The type specimens of fungus growing ants, Attini (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae) deposited in the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil. Papeis Avulsos de Zoologia 45(4):41-50
• Leal, I.R. and P.S. Oliveira. 2000. Foraging ecology of attine ants in a Neotropical savanna: seasonal use of fungal substrate in the cerrado vegetation of Brazil. Insectes Sociaux 47:376-382
• Luederwaldt H. 1918. Notas myrmecologicas. Rev. Mus. Paul. 10: 29-64.
• Mayhe-Nunes A. J., and K. Jaffe. 1998. On the biogeography of attini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Ecotropicos 11(1): 45-54.
• Mayhé-Nunes, A.J. and C.R.F. Brandão. 2006. Revisionary notes on the fungus-growing ant genus Mycetarotes Emery (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 50(4): 463-472.
• Mayhé-Nunes, A.J., C.R.F. Brandão. 2006. Notas sobre as formigas cultivadoras de fungos do gênero Mycetarotes Emery (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 50(4)
• Munhae C. B., Z. A. F. N. Bueno, M. S. C. Morini, and R. R. Silva. 2009. Composition of the Ant Fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Public Squares in Southern Brazil. Sociobiology 53(2B): 455-472.
• Nascimento Santos M., J. H. C. Delabie, and J. M. Queiroz. 2019. Biodiversity conservation in urban parks: a study of ground-dwelling ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Rio de Janeiro City. Urban Ecosystems https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-019-00872-8
• Pires de Prado L., R. M. Feitosa, S. Pinzon Triana, J. A. Munoz Gutierrez, G. X. Rousseau, R. Alves Silva, G. M. Siqueira, C. L. Caldas dos Santos, F. Veras Silva, T. Sanches Ranzani da Silva, A. Casadei-Ferreira, R. Rosa da Silva, and J. Andrade-Silva. 2019. An overview of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the state of Maranhao, Brazil. Pap. Avulsos Zool. 59: e20195938.
• Santoandre S., J. Filloy, G. A. Zurita, and M. I. Bellocq. 2019. Ant taxonomic and functional diversity show differential response to plantation age in two contrasting biomes. Forest Ecology and Management 437: 304-313.
• Solomon, S.E., U.G. Mueller, T.R. Schultz, C.R. Currie, S.L. Price, A.C. Oliveira da Silva-Pinhati, M. Bacci and H. L. Vasconcelos. 2004. Nesting biology of the fungus growing ants Mycetarotes Emery (Attini, Formicidae). Insectes Sociaux 51(4):333-338.
• Suguituru S. S., M. Santina de Castro Morini, R. M. Feitosa, and R. Rosa da Silva. 2015. Formigas do Alto Tiete. Canal 6 Editora 458 pages
• Vasconcelos H. L., B. B. Araujo, A. J. Mayhé-Nunes. 2008. Patterns of diversity and abundance of fungus-growing ants (Formicidae: Attini) in areas of the Brazilian Cerrado. Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 25(3): 445-450.
• de Souza D. R., S. G. dos Santos, C. de B. Munhae, and M. S. de C. Morini. 2012. Diversity of Epigeal Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Urban Areas of Alto Tietê. Sociobiology 59(3): 703-117.