SOIL AND LITTER CRYPTIC ANT ASSEMBLAGES OF BAHIAN COCOA PLANTATIONS

Soil cores and Berlese litter samples collected in an old cocoa planta tion in the state of Bahia, Brazil, revealed high ant species richness and strong dominance. The A horizon soil stratum had twice as many sp ecies present (113) as the litter stratum (69), with true species rich ness estimated at 117 and 75, respectively. A total of 124 species wer e present in samples from the combined strata. Litter depth was not fo und to significantly affect litter ant species richness. The dominant litter ant species was Solenopsis geminata medusa, while the dominant A horizon soil species was Acropyga cf. paramaribensis. Species rank-o rder relationships of the two strata were not concordant. The effects of trophic specialization, microenvironments, and species interactions are discussed.