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Abstract In tropical rain forests, the ant community can be divided into ground and arboreal faunas. Here, we report a thorough sampling of the arboreal ant fauna of La Selva Biological Station, a Neotropical rain forest site. Forty‐five canopy fogging samples were centered around large trees. Individual samples harbored an average of 35 ant species, with up to 55 species in a single sample. The fogging samples yielded 163 observed species total, out of a statistically estimated 199 species. We found no relationship between within‐sample ant richness and focal tree species, nor were the ant faunas of nearby trees more similar to each other than the faunas of widely spaced trees. Species density was high, and beta diversity was low: A single column of vegetation typically harbors at least a fifth of the entire arboreal ant fauna. Considering the entire fauna, based on 23,326 species occurrence records using a wide variety of collecting methods, 182 of 539 observed species (196 of 605, estimated statistically) were entirely arboreal. The arboreal ant fauna is thus about a third of the total La Selva ant fauna, a robust result because inventory completeness was similar for ground and arboreal ants. The taxonomic history of discovery of the species that make up the La Selva fauna reveals no disproportionately large pool of undiscovered ant species in the canopy. The last biotic frontier for tropical ants has been the rotten wood, leaf litter, and soil of the forest floor. Abstract in Spanish is available with online material.
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This content will become publicly available on September 1, 2026
Leaf Conditions Affect the Landing Success of Fallen Tropical Ants
ABSTRACT Falling to the ground is hazardous for arboreal ants. Workers of six ant species dropped onto leaves had the lowest landing success on inclined and wet leaves; epiphyll presence and ant body size had no effect. Consequently, landing on leaves in wet forests apparently is challenging for arboreal ants.
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- PAR ID:
- 10652144
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Biotropica
- Volume:
- 57
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 0006-3606
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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