The greatest richness of crocodilian species in the world is found in the
Amazon basin. Alligators, when adults, are at the top of the chain
food, but during the initial stage of life they are easy prey for many
vertebrates and invertebrates. Alligators build their nests by joining
leaves, branches and mud, which can function as ideal nesting places for
ants. In this work, we evaluated whether alligator nests (Melanosuchus niger
and Caiman crocodilus) harbor greater richness and abundance of ants. Were
three collection rounds were held in the RDS Piagaçu-Purus: September and
December 2013 and October 2014. In each collection round,
6, 8 and 8 alligator nests were sampled, respectively. the ants were
collected by six pitfalls established around nests and six pitfalls in
areas adjacent to the nests, following a paired sampling design. THE
ant richness and abundance were compared by t-tests. The number of
species and the abundance of ants around nests and areas
adjacent, were similar (t = 0.747, p = 0.231 and t = -0.86, p = 0.80,
respectively). In total, 19 species and 442 individuals were recorded in the
around the nests and 16 species and 556 ants in the areas adjacent to the
nests. Despite the greater amount of resources and decaying material
in nests, our results suggest that ground ants do not forage
in alligator nests preferably. Possibly the large amount
of plant material used to create alligator nests may work
as a nesting site for ant species that nest and
they forage in the leaf litter.
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