Recibido  16-II-2000.   Corregido  22-II-2000.  Aceptado 19-IX-2000

Abstract

Two workers of Probolomyrmex petiolatus Weber, 1940, have been collected in a 60 ha  Forest fragment, at Ilha Grande, near Alter do Chão (02º30’S 54º57’W), Para State, north of Brazil (collector:  José Maria S. Vilhena; 01-VII-1998) in a single sample of leaf-litter extracted with Winkler bags. This is the first record of this very rare pantropical ant genus in Brazil. P. petiolatus was previously known only from a few specimens found in Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. The two other Neotropical congeneric species, Probolomyrmex brujitae and P. boliviensis have been found in Argentina (brujitae), Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Panama (AGOSTI, 1994; BOLTON, 1995). Our record extends the known range of P. petiolatus by 1.300 km east, covering the northern part of the Amazon basin. Our finding indicates that P. petiolatus, although locally rare, has a wide distribution in South America. One of the specimens has been deposited in INPA’s entomological collection at Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, and the second one has been deposited in the Laboratorio de Mirmecologia ant reference collection, CEPEC/CEPLAC, Ilheus, Bahia, Brazil.
 
Rerefences
 
Agosti, D. 1994. A revision of the South American species of the ant genus Probolomyrmex (Hymenoptera:  Formicidae). J. New York Entomol. Soc. 192: 429-434; Bolton, B. 1995. A new general catalogue of the ants of the World. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 504 p.
 

1- Laboratório de Mirmecologia, CEPEC/CEPLAC, C.P. 7, 45600-000 Itabuna - BA, & DCAA, UESC, 45660-000 Ilhéus - BA, Brazil, delabie@nuxnet.com.br;

2- Coordenação de Pesquisas em Ecologia, INPA, C.P. 478, 69011-970, Manaus, AM, Brazil, herlado@inpa.gov.br;

3- Department of Entomology, AMNH, 10024-5192, New York, NY, USA, agosti@amnh.org