Soil and leaf litter ants from the Amazon Region offer new distribution records for Colombia.

BACKGROUND

The Colombian Amazon is a region of remarkable biodiversity; however, several biological groups and their microhabitats remain poorly explored. Recent studies on soil ant diversity have provided new records and insights into their biology. Sampling techniques focused on exploring the soil interior (monoliths) and leaf litter have led to numerous new ant records for Colombia, as well as range expansions for many species previously known from other regions.

NEW INFORMATION

Seven new species records are reported for the country and the distribution of 14 species is extended within the Department of Caquetá. These 21 records belong to five subfamilies and sixteen genera. For the first time, the genera (Fernández & Palacio), (Roger), (Santschi) and (Emery) are recorded for the Colombian Amazon. Additionally, the first case of an ergatoid queen in (Oliveira & Feitosa) is documented. The northernmost records of (Fernández) and (Forel) are also reported. Morphological observations, distribution data and images of all recorded species are included. The specimens were collected using the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF) and Winkler extraction methodologies. Furthermore, we present a checklist of ants from Caquetá, listing species for the Department. Finally, we update the known ant diversity of Colombia, reporting a total of species and genera.