Resposta da saúva Atta capiguara Gonçalves, 1944 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) a açúcares e edulcorantes artificiais

O uso de iscas tóxicas, formuladas à base de polpa cítrica desidratada, para o controle de formigas cortadeiras de gramíneas pode levar a resultados insatisfatórios devido à baixa atratividade do substrato às operárias. Este trabalho foi realizado com o objetivo de identificar substâncias atrativas e com potencial para incorporação em matrizes de iscas granuladas para formigas cortadeiras de gramíneas, dentre diversos tipos de açúcares e edulcorantes artificiais. Os experimentos foram realizados em ninhos adultos de Atta capiguara Gonçalves, em área de pastagem. Inicialmente, as substâncias estudadas foram: sacarose, frutose, amido solúvel, rafinose, maltose, lactose, sorbose, celobiose, arabinose, xilose, glicose, galactose, raminose, arabinose, melizitose, sacarina e ciclamato (5,0% p/v). Posteriormente, estudaram-se soluções de maltose, xilose, sacarose, frutose e glicose a 5,0%, 7,5%, 10,0% e 20,0% p/v. Retângulos de celulose foram usados como veículo. Avaliou-se o número de retângulos carregados para o interior das colônias. De modo geral, as taxas de carregamento foram muito baixas, com médias máximas de 9,6% para lactose e de 6,0% para arabinose e ciclamato, na concentração 5,0%, não diferindo da testemunha (água destilada). No esquema fatorial, não foram verificados efeitos de solução, de concentração e de interação entre esses fatores. Os açúcares e edulcorantes artificiais estudados não são atrativos às operárias de Atta capiguara, inviabilizando sua inclusão em iscas tóxicas, com a finalidade de melhorar sua atratividade.Using of toxic baits made of dehydrated citric pulp to control grass-cutting ants can lead to unsatisfactory results because of the low attractiveness of the substrate to worker ants. This work aimed to identify attractive substances, with potential for incorporation in a matrix of granulated baits for grass-cutting ants, among several kinds of sugars and substances used in artificial sweeteners. Experiments were carried out in mature nests of Atta capiguara (Hym.: Formicidae) set in pasture. Studied substances were sucrose, fructose, soluble starch, raffinose, maltose, lactose, sorbose, cellobiose, arabinose, xylose, glucose, galactose, rhamnose, arabinose, melezitose, saccharine and cyclamate (at 5.0% w/v). Later, on maltose, xylose, sucrose, fructose and glucose solutions were included at 5.0%, 7.5%, 10.0% and 20.0% w/v, respectively. Cellulose rectangles were used as vehicle and number of rectangles carried into the colonies was evaluated. Carrying rates were very low with maximum means of 9.6% for lactose and 6.0% for arabinose and cyclamate, at the 5.0% concentration. No differences (P >; 0.05) were observed relatively to the control (distilled water). No effects were detected for solution, concentration and for the interaction of these factors. Sugars and artificial sweeteners studied were not attractive to Atta capiguara workers, turning their inclusion as attractants in toxic ant baits not viable

Detailed stratified GWAS analysis for severe COVID-19 in four European populations

Given the highly variable clinical phenotype of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a deeper analysis of the host genetic contribution to severe COVID-19 is important to improve our understanding of underlying disease mechanisms. Here, we describe an extended genome-wide association meta-analysis of a well-characterized cohort of 3255 COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure and 12 488 population controls from Italy, Spain, Norway and Germany/Austria, including stratified analyses based on age, sex and disease severity, as well as targeted analyses of chromosome Y haplotypes, the human leukocyte antigen region and the SARS-CoV-2 peptidome. By inversion imputation, we traced a reported association at 17q21.31 to a ~0.9-Mb inversion polymorphism that creates two highly differentiated haplotypes and characterized the potential effects of the inversion in detail. Our data, together with the 5th release of summary statistics from the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative including non-Caucasian individuals, also identified a new locus at 19q13.33, including NAPSA, a gene which is expressed primarily in alveolar cells responsible for gas exchange in the lung.S.E.H. and C.A.S. partially supported genotyping through a philanthropic donation. A.F. and D.E. were supported by a grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and COVID-19 grant Research (BMBF; ID:01KI20197); A.F., D.E. and F.D. were supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Cluster of Excellence ‘Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation’ (EXC2167). D.E. was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the Computational Life Sciences funding concept (CompLS grant 031L0165). D.E., K.B. and S.B. acknowledge the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF14CC0001 and NNF17OC0027594). T.L.L., A.T. and O.Ö. were funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), project numbers 279645989; 433116033; 437857095. M.W. and H.E. are supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the Research Training Group 1743, ‘Genes, Environment and Inflammation’. L.V. received funding from: Ricerca Finalizzata Ministero della Salute (RF-2016-02364358), Italian Ministry of Health ‘CV PREVITAL’—strategie di prevenzione primaria cardiovascolare primaria nella popolazione italiana; The European Union (EU) Programme Horizon 2020 (under grant agreement No. 777377) for the project LITMUS- and for the project ‘REVEAL’; Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda ‘Ricerca corrente’, Fondazione Sviluppo Ca’ Granda ‘Liver-BIBLE’ (PR-0391), Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda ‘5permille’ ‘COVID-19 Biobank’ (RC100017A). A.B. was supported by a grant from Fondazione Cariplo to Fondazione Tettamanti: ‘Bio-banking of Covid-19 patient samples to support national and international research (Covid-Bank). This research was partly funded by an MIUR grant to the Department of Medical Sciences, under the program ‘Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2018–2022’. This study makes use of data generated by the GCAT-Genomes for Life. Cohort study of the Genomes of Catalonia, Fundació IGTP (The Institute for Health Science Research Germans Trias i Pujol) IGTP is part of the CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya. GCAT is supported by Acción de Dinamización del ISCIII-MINECO and the Ministry of Health of the Generalitat of Catalunya (ADE 10/00026); the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR) (2017-SGR 529). M.M. received research funding from grant PI19/00335 Acción Estratégica en Salud, integrated in the Spanish National RDI Plan and financed by ISCIII-Subdirección General de Evaluación and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (European Regional Development Fund (FEDER)-Una manera de hacer Europa’). B.C. is supported by national grants PI18/01512. X.F. is supported by the VEIS project (001-P-001647) (co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), ‘A way to build Europe’). Additional data included in this study were obtained in part by the COVICAT Study Group (Cohort Covid de Catalunya) supported by IsGlobal and IGTP, European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, COVID-19 Rapid Response activity 73A and SR20-01024 La Caixa Foundation. A.J. and S.M. were supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant numbers: PSE-010000-2006-6 and IPT-010000-2010-36). A.J. was also supported by national grant PI17/00019 from the Acción Estratégica en Salud (ISCIII) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). The Basque Biobank, a hospital-related platform that also involves all Osakidetza health centres, the Basque government’s Department of Health and Onkologikoa, is operated by the Basque Foundation for Health Innovation and Research-BIOEF. M.C. received Grants BFU2016-77244-R and PID2019-107836RB-I00 funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI, Spain) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER, EU). M.R.G., J.A.H., R.G.D. and D.M.M. are supported by the ‘Spanish Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Competition, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III’ (PI19/01404, PI16/01842, PI19/00589, PI17/00535 and GLD19/00100) and by the Andalussian government (Proyectos Estratégicos-Fondos Feder PE-0451-2018, COVID-Premed, COVID GWAs). The position held by Itziar de Rojas Salarich is funded by grant FI20/00215, PFIS Contratos Predoctorales de Formación en Investigación en Salud. Enrique Calderón’s team is supported by CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), ‘Instituto de Salud Carlos III’. J.C.H. reports grants from Research Council of Norway grant no 312780 during the conduct of the study. E.S. reports grants from Research Council of Norway grant no. 312769. The BioMaterialBank Nord is supported by the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Airway Research Center North (ARCN). The BioMaterialBank Nord is member of popgen 2.0 network (P2N). P.K. Bergisch Gladbach, Germany and the Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. He is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). O.A.C. is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education and is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy—CECAD, EXC 2030–390661388. The COMRI cohort is funded by Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany. This work was supported by grants of the Rolf M. Schwiete Stiftung, the Saarland University, BMBF and The States of Saarland and Lower Saxony. K.U.L. is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG, LU-1944/3-1). Genotyping for the BoSCO study is funded by the Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Bonn. F.H. was supported by the Bavarian State Ministry for Science and Arts. Part of the genotyping was supported by a grant to A.R. from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, grant: 01ED1619A, European Alzheimer DNA BioBank, EADB) within the context of the EU Joint Programme—Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND). Additional funding was derived from the German Research Foundation (DFG) grant: RA 1971/6-1 to A.R. P.R. is supported by the DFG (CCGA Sequencing Centre and DFG ExC2167 PMI and by SH state funds for COVID19 research). F.T. is supported by the Clinician Scientist Program of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Cluster of Excellence ‘Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation’ (EXC2167). C.L. and J.H. are supported by the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF). T.B., M.M.B., O.W. und A.H. are supported by the Stiftung Universitätsmedizin Essen. M.A.-H. was supported by Juan de la Cierva Incorporacion program, grant IJC2018-035131-I funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. E.C.S. is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; SCHU 2419/2-1).Peer reviewe

Detailed stratified GWAS analysis for severe COVID-19 in four European populations

Given the highly variable clinical phenotype of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a deeper analysis of the host genetic contribution to severe COVID-19 is important to improve our understanding of underlying disease mechanisms. Here, we describe an extended GWAS meta-analysis of a well-characterized cohort of 3,260 COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure and 12,483 population controls from Italy, Spain, Norway and Germany/Austria, including stratified analyses based on age, sex and disease severity, as well as targeted analyses of chromosome Y haplotypes, the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region and the SARS-CoV-2 peptidome. By inversion imputation, we traced a reported association at 17q21.31 to a highly pleiotropic ∼0.9-Mb inversion polymorphism and characterized the potential effects of the inversion in detail. Our data, together with the 5th release of summary statistics from the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative, also identified a new locus at 19q13.33, including NAPSA, a gene which is expressed primarily in alveolar cells responsible for gas exchange in the lung.Andre Franke and David Ellinghaus were supported by a grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (01KI20197), Andre Franke, David Ellinghaus and Frauke Degenhardt were supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Cluster of Excellence “Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation” (EXC2167). David Ellinghaus was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the Computational Life Sciences funding concept (CompLS grant 031L0165). David Ellinghaus, Karina Banasik and Søren Brunak acknowledge the Novo Nordisk Foundation (grant NNF14CC0001 and NNF17OC0027594). Tobias L. Lenz, Ana Teles and Onur Özer were funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), project numbers 279645989; 433116033; 437857095. Mareike Wendorff and Hesham ElAbd are supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the Research Training Group 1743, "Genes, Environment and Inflammation". This project was supported by a Covid-19 grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; ID: 01KI20197). Luca Valenti received funding from: Ricerca Finalizzata Ministero della Salute RF2016-02364358, Italian Ministry of Health ""CV PREVITAL – strategie di prevenzione primaria cardiovascolare primaria nella popolazione italiana; The European Union (EU) Programme Horizon 2020 (under grant agreement No. 777377) for the project LITMUS- and for the project ""REVEAL""; Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda ""Ricerca corrente"", Fondazione Sviluppo Ca' Granda ""Liver-BIBLE"" (PR-0391), Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda ""5permille"" ""COVID-19 Biobank"" (RC100017A). Andrea Biondi was supported by the grant from Fondazione Cariplo to Fondazione Tettamanti: "Biobanking of Covid-19 patient samples to support national and international research (Covid-Bank). This research was partly funded by a MIUR grant to the Department of Medical Sciences, under the program "Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2018–2022". This study makes use of data generated by the GCAT-Genomes for Life. Cohort study of the Genomes of Catalonia, Fundació IGTP. IGTP is part of the CERCA Program / Generalitat de Catalunya. GCAT is supported by Acción de Dinamización del ISCIIIMINECO and the Ministry of Health of the Generalitat of Catalunya (ADE 10/00026); the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR) (2017-SGR 529). Marta Marquié received research funding from ant PI19/00335 Acción Estratégica en Salud, integrated in the Spanish National RDI Plan and financed by ISCIIISubdirección General de Evaluación and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER-Una manera de hacer Europa").Beatriz Cortes is supported by national grants PI18/01512. Xavier Farre is supported by VEIS project (001-P-001647) (cofunded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), “A way to build Europe”). Additional data included in this study was obtained in part by the COVICAT Study Group (Cohort Covid de Catalunya) supported by IsGlobal and IGTP, EIT COVID-19 Rapid Response activity 73A and SR20-01024 La Caixa Foundation. Antonio Julià and Sara Marsal were supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant numbers: PSE-010000-2006-6 and IPT-010000-2010-36). Antonio Julià was also supported the by national grant PI17/00019 from the Acción Estratégica en Salud (ISCIII) and the FEDER. The Basque Biobank is a hospitalrelated platform that also involves all Osakidetza health centres, the Basque government's Department of Health and Onkologikoa, is operated by the Basque Foundation for Health Innovation and Research-BIOEF. Mario Cáceres received Grants BFU2016-77244-R and PID2019-107836RB-I00 funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI, Spain) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER, EU). Manuel Romero Gómez, Javier Ampuero Herrojo, Rocío Gallego Durán and Douglas Maya Miles are supported by the “Spanish Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Competition, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III” (PI19/01404, PI16/01842, PI19/00589, PI17/00535 and GLD19/00100), and by the Andalussian government (Proyectos Estratégicos-Fondos Feder PE-0451-2018, COVID-Premed, COVID GWAs). The position held by Itziar de Rojas Salarich is funded by grant FI20/00215, PFIS Contratos Predoctorales de Formación en Investigación en Salud. Enrique Calderón's team is supported by CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), "Instituto de Salud Carlos III". Jan Cato Holter reports grants from Research Council of Norway grant no 312780 during the conduct of the study. Dr. Solligård: reports grants from Research Council of Norway grant no 312769. The BioMaterialBank Nord is supported by the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Airway Research Center North (ARCN). The BioMaterialBank Nord is member of popgen 2.0 network (P2N). Philipp Koehler has received non-financial scientific grants from Miltenyi Biotec GmbH, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, and the Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. He is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).Oliver A. Cornely is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education and is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's Excellence Strategy – CECAD, EXC 2030 – 390661388. The COMRI cohort is funded by Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany. Genotyping was performed by the Genotyping laboratory of Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM Technology Centre, University of Helsinki. This work was supported by grants of the Rolf M. Schwiete Stiftung, the Saarland University, BMBF and The States of Saarland and Lower Saxony. Kerstin U. Ludwig is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG, LU-1944/3-1). Genotyping for the BoSCO study is funded by the Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Bonn. Frank Hanses was supported by the Bavarian State Ministry for Science and Arts. Part of the genotyping was supported by a grant to Alfredo Ramirez from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, grant: 01ED1619A, European Alzheimer DNA BioBank, EADB) within the context of the EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND). Additional funding was derived from the German Research Foundation (DFG) grant: RA 1971/6-1 to Alfredo Ramirez. Philip Rosenstiel is supported by the DFG (CCGA Sequencing Centre and DFG ExC2167 PMI and by SH state funds for COVID19 research). Florian Tran is supported by the Clinician Scientist Program of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Cluster of Excellence “Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation” (EXC2167). Christoph Lange and Jan Heyckendorf are supported by the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF). Thorsen Brenner, Marc M Berger, Oliver Witzke und Anke Hinney are supported by the Stiftung Universitätsmedizin Essen. Marialbert Acosta-Herrera was supported by Juan de la Cierva Incorporacion program, grant IJC2018-035131-I funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. Eva C Schulte is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; SCHU 2419/2-1).N

Discovering the Giant Nest Architecture of Grass-Cutting Ants, Atta capiguara (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Atta capiguara is a grass-cutting ant species frequently found in Cerrado biome. However, little is known about the giant nest architecture of this ant. In this study, we investigated the architecture of three A. capiguara nests from a fragment of Cerrado in Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil. Casts were made of the nests by filling them with cement to permit better visualization of internal structures such as chambers and tunnels. After excavation, the depth and dimensions (length, width, and height) of the chambers were measured. The results showed the shape of Atta capiguara nests consisting of mounds of loose soil with unique features resembling a conic section. The fungus chambers were found distant from the mound of loose soil and were spaced apart and distributed laterally at the soil profile. The waste chambers were located beneath the largest mound of loose soil. Both the fungus and waste chambers were separated and distant. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the so far unknown nest architecture of the grass-cutting ant A. capiguara

Characterization of Acromyrmex subterraneus brunneus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) young nests in a fragment of the Neotropical Forest

Ninhos jovens de Acromyrmex subterraneus brunneus caracterizam-se pela terra solta no exterior do ninho, por ter uma única câmara de fungo com profundidade de 11 a 20 cm em relação à superfície do solo e por ter volume interno variando de 0,3 a 1,5 litros. Estes padrões de nidificação são caracteres importantes para a identificação e o conhecimento das interações da espécie com o seu habitat.Young nests of Acromyrmex subterraneus brunneus are characterized by refuse soil in the exterior of the nest, a single fungus chamber 11 to 20 cm deep in relation to soil surface and internal volume ranging from 0.3 to 1.5 liters. These nidification patterns are important characteristics for identifying and understanding the interactions between species and their habitats.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Relationship Between Population Size and Symbiont Fungus Culture Volume in Colonies of Acromyrmex balzani (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

In order to quantify the population of Acromyrmex balzani Emery, 1890 nests and to verify whether the population dynamic of the colony is correlated with the symbiont fungus volume, the principal energy source of the colony, five nests located in grassland areas were evaluated. The nests were sprayed with neutral talcum powder to improve visualization and digging. The symbiont fungus and the entire population existent in the chambers were collected. The mean fungus volume and total nest population in excavated nests were, respectively, 74.76 ml and 1,095 individuals. Simple linear correlation analysis verified that the fungus volume grew proportionally to the number of individuals. Despite the correlation between fungus volume and population dynamic of colonies, the factors that determine this relationship are little known since other microorganisms live in association with the colony

Comparação entre parâmetros externos e internos de ninhos de Atta bisphaerica Forel, 1908 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Six Atta bisphaerica, Forel, 1908 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) nests were excavated with the aim of studying the relationship between area and volume of the mound, the total volume and total number of chambers in the nest. Prior to excavation, the area and the volume of refused soil in the nests were measured. During excavation, all data referring to chambers were recorded, such as: length, depth and width. The nests named A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 and A6 presented 31.16; 40.87, 67.08, 35.04, 73.48 and 18,73m2 of mound area, respectively. The mound area did not correlate either with the volume or with the total number of chambers. The mound volume correlated significantly with the mound area, total number and total volume of chambers. The total volume of chambers was correlated with the total number of chambers.Foram escavados seis ninhos adultos de Atta bisphaerica Forel, 1908, (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) com o objetivo de estudar a relação entre área e volume do monte de terra solta, volume total e número total de câmaras do ninho. Antes de se iniciar o processo de escavação, mediram-se a área e o volume de terra solta dos ninhos. Durante a escavação, foram anotados todos os dados referentes à altura, largura e profundidade das câmaras. Os ninhos, denominados A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 e A6, apresentaram áreas de terra solta de 31,16; 40,87; 67,08, 35,04; 73,48 e 18,73m2, respectivamente. A área de terra solta não apresentou correlação significativa com volume e número total de câmaras. O volume de terra solta apresentou correlação significativa com a área de terra solta e com o número e volume total de câmaras. O volume total de câmaras apresentou correlação significativa com o número total de câmaras

Selectivity of Workers of the Grass-Cutting Ants Atta bisphaerica and Atta capiguara (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) to Vegetable Oils

The grass-cutting ants Atta capiguara Goncalves, 1941 and Atta bisphaerica Forel, 1908, have great economic importance as regards pastures and various agricultural cultivations in Brazil. These are ants which are difficult control, generally rejecting toxic baits, the main control method, in the field. In this work the reactions of the workers of A. capiguara and A. bisphaerica to vegetable oils in neutral substrates were observed, aiming to select the most attractive for the formulation of bait matrixes. Three field experiments were conducted. In the first experiment conducted for A. capiguara, the following treatments were used: corn oil, soy oil, cotton oil, canola oil, sesame oil, sunflower oil and control (distilled water). For the other experiments, conducted for both species of ant, the following treatments were used: cotton oil, rice oil, canola oil, sesame oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, soy oil, bait pellets without active ingredient, distilled water and cellulose (not immersed in water or oil). The data presented in this work affirms that soy oil, present in commercial baits,probably contributes to its attractiveness. Corn and rice oil presented potential as substitutes for soy oil in relation to the development of new bait matrixes for A. capiguara.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Ocorrência de formigas-cortadeiras do gênero Atta (Hymenoptera: Attini) na região sudoeste da Bahia

The objective of the research was to develop knowledge about the occurrence of species in the genus Atta Region Southwest Bahia and relate the occurrence of species to the predominant vegetation. The survey was conducted in different scripts, in the months from July to December 2005, starting with Vitória da Conquista/BA and proceeding up collections of 50 by 50 km along the BR 116 and BAs 026, 030, 148, 262, 263, 265, 270, 420, 634 and 670 highways, totaling 36 cities. We collected the greatest workers into the holes above the nest and the foraging trails. In these collection points was recorded predominant vegetation. The collected material was fixed in 70% ethanol for later identification of species. The identification of taxa was made in Insetos Sociais-Praga Laboratory of Universidade Estadual Paulista, Botucatu/SP, by Dr. Ana Paula Andrade Cruciol Protti. In this region we found three species of leaf-cutting ants Atta sexdens, Atta laevigata and Atta opaciceps. The species that occurred most frequently was A. sexdens considered accessory (present in 41.7% of cities), while A. laevigata and A. opaciceps were considered accidental (present in less than 25% of samples). It was found that A. sexdens nests in diverse environments, while the species A. laevigata was found nesting in grasslands, Mata Cipó and eucalyptus forests. The A. opaciceps was found in grassland.O objetivo da pesquisa foi verificar a ocorrência de espécies do gênero Atta na Região Sudoeste da Bahia e relacionar com a vegetação predominante no local de nidificação. O levantamento foi realizado em diferentes roteiros, nos meses de julho a dezembro de 2005, partindo-se de Vitória da Conquista, BA e procedendo-se coletas a cada 50 km, ao longo das rodovias BR 116 e BA (026, 030, 148, 262, 263, 265, 270, 420, 634 e 670), totalizando 36 municípios da região. Foram coletadas as maiores operárias nos orifícios acima dos ninhos e nas trilhas de forrageamento e foi registrada a vegetação predominante nos pontos de coleta. O material coletado foi fixado em álcool 70% para posterior identificação das espécies. A identificação dos táxons foi realizada no Laboratório de Insetos Sociais-Praga da Universidade Estadual Paulista, Botucatu, SP pela Dra. Ana Paula Protti Andrade Cruciol. Na região estudada foram encontradas três espécies de formigas-cortadeiras: Atta sexdens, Atta laevigata e Atta opaciceps. A espécie de maior ocorrência foi A. sexdens, considerada acessória (presente em 41,7% dos municípios), enquanto A. laevigata e A. opaciceps foram acidentais (presentes em menos de 25% das coletas). Verificou-se que A. sexdens nidificou em ambientes diversificados, enquanto a espécie A. laevigata foi encontrada nidificando em pastagem, Mata de Cipó e eucalipto, e A. opaciceps foi encontrada em pastagem