Rediscovery of the putatively extinct ant species Simopelta minima (Brandão) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), with a discussion on rarity and conservation status of ant species

Simopelta minima (Brandão, 1989) was originally described based on four workers collected in soil samples from a small cocoa plantation in Ilhéus, state of Bahia, northeastern Brazil. In the subsequent years after the description, this cocoa plantation was eliminated and the species was then considered extinct by the Brazilian environmental institutions. The recent rediscovery of S. minima workers in subterranean pitfall trap samples from Viçosa, state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil, over 1.000 km distant from type locality, suggests that the rarity and vulnerability status of some ant species may be explained by insufficient sampling of adequate microhabitats, in time and space.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Brandão,Carlos Roberto Ferreira, Feitosa,Rodrigo Machado, Schmidt,Fernando Augusto, Solar,Ricardo Ribeiro de Castro
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Sociedade Brasileira De Entomologia 2008
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0085-56262008000300026
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