Datanlí El Diablo

Ants of Reserva Natural Datanlí El Diablo, Nicaragua

Report by John T. (Jack) Longino, The University of Utah; Michael G. Branstetter, The University of California, Davis; Laura D. Sáenz, Universidad de San Carlos, Guatemala; and P. S. Ward, The University of California, Davis.

This is a working list of the ants of Reserva Natural Datanlí El Diablo, Nicaragua, based on Project LLAMA sampling. Specimen records have been uploaded to the AntWeb database and are periodically updated.

This is a static webpage with links to the AntWeb species pages, where you can see distribution maps on Google Earth. If links are dead, that means the database has changed as hypotheses of species boundaries evolve and names change.

There is a minimum of 79 species so far recorded.

Reserva Natural Datanlí-El Diablo is cloud forest reserve in the department of Jinotega. It includes 5,848 ha of protected land and has a range in elevation of 700 to 1,680 m. The reserve is administered by MARENA in Jinotega and is accessible from two roads. The reserve is a patchy matrix of private coffee farms and primary and secondary cloud forest. Project LLAMA worked from the coffee cooperative at La Esmeralda, located about 1 hr from a turnoff on the Matagalpa-Jinotega road (km 146). From La Esmeralda it is possible to hike up through the coffee farms and into primary cloud forest. MiniWinkler transects were done in two large forest patches between 1,400 and 1,440 m elevation. The forest appeared primary with many large oak trees and abundant tree ferns. Both forest patches were near coffee and agricultural clearings. Additional maxiWinkler samples were collected around the transect sites and up to a maximum elevation of 1,530 m.