taxonID	type	description	language	source
03947822FF92A447FC9BF8BB318AF9F2.taxon	discussion	Comments: The type series was collected in Colombia (Kempf, 1972) and the species has also previously been reported from Venezuela (MacKay and MacKay, 2019). This study presents the first report of this species in Ecuador and the western coast of South America, extending its distribution more than 1000 km of the southernmost known record. Previously, this species has been collected within termite nests alongside Crematogaster workers, in forested areas, urban areas, and among leaf litter (MacKay and MacKay, 2019).	en	Barreno, Marissa, López, Myriam Arias de, Pazmiño-Palomino, Alex, Molina-Moreira, Natalia (2025): A first overview of ant diversity in mangroves along the Ecuadorian coast. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia (e 20240062) 69 (1): 1-16, DOI: 10.1590/1806-9665-RBENT-2024-0062, URL: https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9665-rbent-2024-0062
03947822FF95A447FFCBF9613450FADB.taxon	discussion	Comments: Highly territorial, inhabiting low vegetation (Powell et al., 2014). Found from Panama to southern Brazil (AntWeb, 2023). This is the first record of this species in Ecuador, 700 km away from the nearest previous report. Cases of social parasitism by Cephalotes specularis have been documented, as it follows the pheromone trail left by C. ampla workers to take over their food source (Brandão et al., 2014).	en	Barreno, Marissa, López, Myriam Arias de, Pazmiño-Palomino, Alex, Molina-Moreira, Natalia (2025): A first overview of ant diversity in mangroves along the Ecuadorian coast. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia (e 20240062) 69 (1): 1-16, DOI: 10.1590/1806-9665-RBENT-2024-0062, URL: https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9665-rbent-2024-0062
03947822FF95A446FC85F8DF3233FAF0.taxon	discussion	Comments: It is one of the most successful exotic species, but its origin is hypothesized to be in Southeast Asia (Wetterer, 2008). In Ecuador, it has been reported from the humid forests of the northwestern foothills (Ramón et al., 2013), inter-Andean valleys of the southern Andes (Salazar et al., 2015), and multiple islands of the Galápagos Archipelago (Herrera et al., 2024).	en	Barreno, Marissa, López, Myriam Arias de, Pazmiño-Palomino, Alex, Molina-Moreira, Natalia (2025): A first overview of ant diversity in mangroves along the Ecuadorian coast. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia (e 20240062) 69 (1): 1-16, DOI: 10.1590/1806-9665-RBENT-2024-0062, URL: https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9665-rbent-2024-0062
03947822FF94A446FFE9FA623111F887.taxon	discussion	Comments: Tapinoma melanocephalum is an exotic species with a cosmopolitan distribution, believed to be native to the Indo-Pacific region, now common in anthropogenic areas where it nests within buildings and house gardens (Wetterer, 2009 c; Luo and Chang, 2013). In Ecuador, it has been reported in the tropical forests of Yasuní National Park, the Andes, dry forests in the southern coast, and the Chocó (Lattke et al., 2016; Donoso et al., 2017; Salazar-Basurto et al., 2023).	en	Barreno, Marissa, López, Myriam Arias de, Pazmiño-Palomino, Alex, Molina-Moreira, Natalia (2025): A first overview of ant diversity in mangroves along the Ecuadorian coast. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia (e 20240062) 69 (1): 1-16, DOI: 10.1590/1806-9665-RBENT-2024-0062, URL: https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9665-rbent-2024-0062
03947822FF94A446FFE9F89B3463F997.taxon	discussion	Comment: It is a cosmopolitan invasive species, likely native to Southeast Asia (Agavekar et al., 2017). In Ecuador, it has been recorded in disturbed and natural environments, in the western foothills of the northern Andes, tropical rainforest of the Amazon lowlands (Donoso et al., 2017), the Galápagos archipelago (Herrera et al., 2024), and in the city of Quito (Salazar-Basurto et al., 2023). It can pose a problem in agriculture, as it has a mutualistic relationship with honeydew-producing hemipterans (Wetterer, 2009 b).	en	Barreno, Marissa, López, Myriam Arias de, Pazmiño-Palomino, Alex, Molina-Moreira, Natalia (2025): A first overview of ant diversity in mangroves along the Ecuadorian coast. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia (e 20240062) 69 (1): 1-16, DOI: 10.1590/1806-9665-RBENT-2024-0062, URL: https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9665-rbent-2024-0062
