Nests architecture of Dinoponera gigantea Perty, 1833, (Hymenoptera:Formicidae) in Cerrado North Northeast of Brazil

Abstract

Ants build nests on different substrates, above ground occupying tree trunks, occupying them internally and externally. On the ground, ants build nests with a range of structural and architectural variation. The structural and architectural diversity of ant nests in soils results from the manifestation of intrinsic factors (colony size, rhythm of internal activity of the anthill, among others) and extrinsic factors such as seasonality intends to describe the architecture of nests of Dinoponera gigantea, Perty, 1833, in two soil orders in an area of Cerrado in the Northeast of Brazil. Twelve anthills of Dinoponera gigantea, Perry,1833, six in a Xanthic Hapludox and six in an Oxyaquic Udipsamments were selected. The selected nests were molded with cement and then excavated to obtain measurements of the diameter of the hole at the entrances to the nests, the depth of the anthills, the measurements of height, width and length of the chambers and galleries. The nests molded in Oxyaquic Udipsamments have a depth ranging from 14.5 cm to 43 cm, with an average of 9 chambers and an average volume of 322.61 cm³, all with 2 to 3 access openings. In the nests molded in the Xanthic Hapludox, the depth varied between 29 cm and 62 cm and presented an average number of 9 chambers, with a total average volume of 103.01 cm³, and with 2 access openings. Ellipsoid-shaped input and output with diameters between 2 cm and 3 cm. Data analysis showed that the nests of D. gigantea in the studied soils are statistically similar. However, it was possible to observe that the nests found in the Xanthic Hapludox are deeper and present a pattern with greater geometric regularity, while the nests found in the Oxyaquic Udipsamments are less deep and with less geometric regularity. The differences in design and depth of D. gigantea nests in these two soils are related to the conditions of vegetation cover, temperature and stability and aggregate indices of these two soils.