Here, we report a quantitative community survey of myrmecophiles parasitizing the six sympatric Eciton army ant species in a Costa Rican rainforest. ![]() We therefore know little about the species richness, abundance and host specificity of most guests in any given population, which is crucial to understand co-evolutionary and ecological dynamics. However, because previous work has mainly been based on haphazard collections from disjunct populations, it remains challenging to define species boundaries. Hundreds of these guests, or myrmecophiles, have been taxonomically described. One fascinating but poorly studied example are the symbiotic associations between army ants and their rich assemblages of parasitic arthropod guests. While species inventories are far from complete for any tropical rainforest, even less is known about the intricate species interactions that form the basis of these ecological communities. ![]() Tropical rainforests are among the most diverse biomes on Earth.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |