Megalomyrmex silvestrii Wheeler, 1909

Brandão, Carlos Roberto F., 2003, Further Revisionary Studies On The Ant Genus Megalomyrmex Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Solenopsidini) C R F. B Abstract, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia (São Paulo) 43 (8), pp. 145-159 : 154-155

Megalomyrmex silvestrii Wheeler, 1909

J. Trager collected an alate gyne and 15 workers of this species at “ Base de Pesquisas do IBDF , Km 115, Transpantaneira road (field # 0316, rotten wood), Poconé, Mato Grosso, Brazil (16°15’S, 56°37’W), in November 28, 1984 ( MZSP) .

R. Silvestri collected eight workers using sardine baits set on the soil at night, in Cajurú, São Paulo state, Brazil (23°24’S, 47°23’W) in April 24, 1993 .

R. Pinto da Rocha and Barreto recovered a worker and a dealated gyne of M. silvestrii from a berlesate sample taken in Pinhão , Ribeirão Estreito , Usina Hidroelétrica Segredo (25°43’S, 51°38’W), in a tributary of Rio Iguaçu, state of Paraná, Brazil, in March 20, 1992 .

Jacques Delabie, from CPDC, Itabuna , Bahia state Brazil, sent me two samples of M. silvestrii collected in the CEPEC area in Ilhéus, Bahia state, Brazil, respectively # 4407, collected by B. Santos in April 19, 1991 (6 workers) , and # 4587, collected by P. Terra in October 21, 1987 (two alate gynes, for males) and same number (three males) collected in February 15, 1989.

The MCZ collection has a worker of this species from Voltzberg, Saramacca province, Suriname (04°32’N, 56°32’W), collected by D.S. Trail in April 14, 1980 in leaf litter .

Soares et al. (1998) collected M. silvestri in Doane soil traps set in an eucalyptus plantation in Viçosa, Minas Gerais state, Brazil.

Megalomyrmex silvestrii was previously recorded in only one Costa Rican locality, but J. Longino sent me three samples of this species from other localities in Costa Rica, namely Parque Nacional Santa Rosa , provincia Guanacaste (10°51’N, 85°37’W), 300 m July 12, 1985 (1 dealated gyne, 2 workers) # 420-S; Parque Nacional Corcovado, provincia Puntarenas (08°29’N, 83°36’W), 100 m, December 18, 1990 (2 workers) # 2769-S; and Reserva Biologica Hitgy-Cerere, provincia Limón (09°40’N, 83°02’W), 500 m, collected in August 30, 1985 (1 worker) # 970- S. The locality record for this species previously referred as Bataan, Santa Clara, Costa Rica in Brandão (1990), is in fact in the Limón province and not in the Santa Clara province .

R. R. da Silva collected two workers of M. silvestrii in Winkler extracted litter samples from Seara, Santa Catarina state, Brazil (24°07’S, 52°18’W) from May to December 1998. A.A. Tavares and R. R. da Silva collected 50 individually sifted 1 m 2 litter samples submitted to Winkler extractors for 48 hours in Praia Grande , Parque Estadual Serra do Mar , Núcleo Pilões-Cubatão (23°58’31”S, 46°32’24”W), from May 26 to 27, 2001, and Iguape , Núcleo Juréia-Itatins, Parque Estadual Serra do Mar (24°32’39”S, 47°142’08”W), in March 5 to 14, 2001. Megalomyrmex silvestrii was recorded respectively once and twice .