Regresar

Insects of the Andean dry forest remnants in Ecuador

Abstract:

Biological research in Ecuadorian dry forests is mainly focused on botanical and ecological issues, whereas knowledge on its entomofauna is very scarce. We sampled terrestrial insects in four northern Andean dry forest localities with the aim of examining their composition at the family level. We registered 14 orders and 117 families, among these, the ants (Formicidae) represented the highest percentage of the abundance obtained. We make reference of a possible record of Pheidole megacephala, one of the worst invasive species on Earth. Although we show here preliminary results, our work represents one of the first contributions to the knowledge of the insect fauna in probably the most threatened ecosystem of this territory.