Abstract
Ants are among the most abundant organisms on Earth, being adapted for living on different solid surfaces. However, in some habitats, like riparian forests and flooded plains, water can be a constant obstacle, and overcoming this obstacle can be essential to determine the persistence of ants in such habitats. While most ant species avoid the water during a flood by foraging at higher elevations or climbing on trees, a few species developed ways to overcome this obstacle by swimming. Here, we report, for the first time, ants of the species Linepthema micans (Forel 1908) performing rafts. We observed 14 rafts in three consecutive days at approximately 1400 meters a.s.l. in Serra do Cipó, Brazil. Notably, this is the first record of ant rafting in tropical mountaintop grasslands, which are extreme habitats with shallow and sandy soils, and where small temporary water pools are extremely common in the wet season.
Highlights
Ants are among the most ubiquitous organisms in terrestrial habitats, being highly diverse and comprising a significant part of the terrestrial arthropods’ biomass (Holldöbler & Wilson, 1990; Lach et al, 2010)
Ants are terrestrial and cursorial organisms adapted for living on different solid surfaces, from the soil underground to the canopies of tropical rain forests
Water is present in 70% of the planet, interactions with water represent a formidable obstacle for such terrestrial organisms
Summary
Ants are among the most ubiquitous organisms in terrestrial habitats, being highly diverse and comprising a significant part of the terrestrial arthropods’ biomass (Holldöbler & Wilson, 1990; Lach et al, 2010). Ants are terrestrial and cursorial organisms adapted for living on different solid surfaces, from the soil underground to the canopies of tropical rain forests. While some species avoid the water by constraining their foraging activities to drier habitats or climbing taller objects (Adis, 1997), others developed ways to overcome this obstacle by swimming.
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