First Record of the Dolichoderine Ant Genus Gracilidris Wild & Cuezzo (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Southern Brazil

Abstract

The dolichoderine ant species Gracilidris pombero, sole representative of the genus, is recorded for the first time in southern Brazil. Until now, the species was known only for the open fields of the South American dry diagonal and for a single locality in the Colombian Amazon. The specimens reported here were collected with pitfall traps in grasslands of the Pampa biome, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. This record represents the southernmost occurrence for the genus, extending its distribution in approximately 450 km to the south in the Neotropics and in almost 1,150 km to the south in Brazil.