Fernando Fernández

• Ph.D.
• Professor (Associate) at National University of Colombia

A new genus, Platysognathus gen. nov., and its type species Platysognathus amazonicus sp. nov. are described with specimens collected in the Colombian Amazon. This genus presents two characteristics documented for the first time in the family: the presence of an irregularly rhomboid mandibular tooth and a serrated genital flagellum. These character...

Three new species of Typhoctes Blake, 1866, T. tayronensis Fernández, sp. nov. T. colombiensis Brothers, sp. nov. and T. jamaicensis Brothers, sp. nov. (Hymenoptera, Chyphotidae) are described and illustrated from Magdalena and Cesar, northern Colombia, based on a single female and a single male, and from Jamaica based on three males. These are the...

Cohabitation between ants and termites is a widespread yet understudied ecological interaction in tropical forests. This study explores the patterns of termite-ant cohabitation networks across different forest coverages in the Colombian Amazon, focusing on taxonomic composition, nesting substrates, and ant functional guilds. A total of 413 specimen...

The ants of the genus Rhopalothrix are diverse in the Neotropical region, with 14 of the 16 described species. Based on museum material and recent fieldwork, Rhopalothrix ants in Colombia were reviewed. Morphological analysis of the workers allowed delim-itation of six species, including two new species, Rhopalothrix mandibularis Guerrero & Grajale...

Typhlomyrmex Mayr is a genus of small and cryptic ants of the subfamily Ectatomminae. Here, we provide taxonomic notes on the ants of the genus Typhlomyrmex Mayr from Colombia, along with the description of Typhlomyrmex encanto sp. nov. based on the worker caste, and the re-description / description of the worker caste of T. clavicornis Emery and T...

Este conjunto de datos contiene 2.320 eventos de muestreo realizados en la amazonía Colombiana y 6.242 registros de hormigas y termitas de suelo, se colectaron utilizando la metodología TSBF, entre 2016 y 2021. Para hormigas se reportan 176 especies comprendidadas en 70 generos; mientras que para termitas se reportan 72 especies comprendidas en 44...

Hymenoptera is globally one of the most diverse groups of insects. There are no recent estimates nor sound data on the size of the fauna of this order in the Neotropical Region. Based on printed or digital catalogs, lists, as well as reviews of monographs, and other sources, the Neotropics comprises 26 su-perfamilies, 92 families, 3162 genera, and...

Caldasia 44(3) | Septiembre-diciembre 2022

Las hormigas son uno de los grupos de organismos más exitosos, presentes en casi todos los hábitats terrestres del planeta. Sin embargo, los patrones de diversidad en gradientes altitudinales no se han evaluado a grandes escalas en los ecosistemas tropicales. El objetivo general fue determinar el efecto de la altitud en los ensamblajes de hormigas...

Pheidole is one of the most diverse groups of ants in the World, with more than 630 species known from the Neotropical Region. As part of studies on the ant fauna of Colombia, a contribution to the taxonomy of these ants is presented here. The worker subcastes of Pheidole praeusta Roger are redescribed, this being the first record of a trimorphic s...

A new species of Eurhopalothrix Brown & Kempf, E. amati Fiorentino, Tocora and Fernández, n. sp. is described based on workers collected in northwestern Colombia. A taxonomic key and distributional map for the new species in the country are provided. This new species differs from other Eurhopalothrix ants by the configuration of specialized setatio...

Twenty two years after the first checklist of Neotropical Spider Wasps, a new list of genera and species is offered, including novelties in phylogeny and systematics, as well as reviews, synonyms and descriptions since the year 2000. Sixty three genera and 946 species of Pompilidae are listed.

A checklist of 5 subfamilies, 108 genera, and 246 species of stinks bugs (Hemiptera, Pentatomidae) from Colombia is provided. Three genera [Andrallus Bergroth, Placocoris Mayr, and Pseudobebaeus Distant], and eight species [Arocera spectabilis (Drury), Andrallus spinidens (Fabricius), Banasa excavata Thomas, Banasa saileri Thomas, Banasa varians St...

La diversidad de la fauna edáfica en los suelos se ve afectada por cambios en las coberturas vegetales. En el caso de la macrofauna se ha podido establecer una relación entre su composición y la salud de los suelos. En el presente capítulo se expone el inventario de la macrofauna edáfica en tres departamentos de la región amazónica colombiana: Amaz...

With a long history of more than 100 million years and about 14,000 described living species, ants are one of the most important and well-known groups of insects in the world. Ants are key elements in the structure and dynamics of terrestrial systems, especially in the tropics, as well as models in studies of evolution, ecology, and monitoring of d...

Even though Colombia has high levels of ant species richness in the Neotropical region, this richness continues to increase. New records of the ant subfamilies Amblyoponinae, Dolichoderinae, Dorylinae, Myrmicinae, and Ponerinae are presented. Two species of Fulakora, two species of Azteca, one species of Cylindromyrmex, 25 species of Myrmicinae bel...

A synopsis of the metallic carpenter bees Xylocopa subgenus Schonnherria Lepeletier in Colombia is presented. Eleven species were recognized: X. dimidiata Latreille, X. ecuadorica Cockerell, X. lateralis Say, X. lucida Smith, X. metallica Smith, X. muscaria (Fabricius), X. ornata Smith, X. viridis Smith, and X. simillima Smith, being this latter a...

An overview of the order Strepsiptera in Colombia is provided. The family Halictophagidae is recorded for the first time based on a female parasitizing a treehopper Ceresini (Membracidae). Strichotrema beckeri is a new record for the country. The ant genus Megalomyrmex is documented as a new host for Caenocholax fenyesi. A short review of the ants...

The genus Proceratium Roger comprises rare ants that are irregularly distributed in tropical and temperate regions of the world. Despite this global distribution, these ants are rarely collected, likely due to their cryptobiotic lifestyle. In the New World, the genus comprises 22 known species distributed from Southern Canada to the South of Brazil...

The genus Proceratium Roger comprises rare ants that are irregularly distributed in tropical and temperate regions of the world. Despite this global distribution, these ants are rarely collected, likely due to their cryptobiotic lifestyle. In the New World, the genus comprises 22 known species distributed from Southern Canada to the South of Brazil...

Natural regeneration of abandoned farmland provides an important opportunity to contribute to global reforestation targets, including the Bonn Challenge. Of particular importance are the montane tropics, where a long history of farming, frequently on marginal soils, has rendered many ecosystems highly degraded and hotspots of extinction risk. Ants...

Brachymyrmex is a neglected genus of Formicinae because of its small body size, soft mesosoma, and superficially monotonous external morphology. These features have complicated the documentation of morphological variation, resulting in poorly defined and incompletely described species. Consequently, the taxonomy of the genus is complex and problema...

Las hormigas son uno de los grupos de insectos más comunes en los ecosistemas terrestres del planeta, importantes agentes de la dinámica y estructura de bosques, agrosistemas e incluso ambientes antrópicos. En el mundo Colombia ocupa un lugar destacado en diversidad, con 11 subfamilias, 105 géneros y unas 1200 especies descritas. El propósito del...

The ants are a natural, monophyletic group, supported by based on genes. It is not yet clear the position of ants within Aculeata, especially since Vespoidea in the broad sense was fragmented; recent studies using phylogenomics put ants and apoids as sister groups. Ants are known from the Cretaceous, but its expansion seems to be more evident since...

Eleven subfamilies and forty-three ant genera collected in Colombia are provided with the aim of presenting the diversity of the ants of the country.

Ants are the most conspicuous social insects. Each colony typically comprises a fertile female (queen) and a variable number of infertile females (workers) working in building and maintaining the nest and care for the queen and young. The presence of males is limited, until the departure of virgin females to seek new nests. Although this simple ima...

Ponerinae comprises ants usually hunters and inhabiting the soil and litter of forests. In the current sense, the subfamily is monophyletic, defined in part by the fused toruli and frontal lobes configuration. The composition, phylogenetic relationships, distribution and biological aspects of the two tribes and 15 genera of the subfamily in Colombi...

The species delimitation in ants under the traditional morphology and the modern use of combination of tools such as nuclear and mitochondrial genes, morphometry, cuticular hydrocarbons and niche modeling is revised. Although some groups of ants reasonably can be separated by morphology and / or morphometrics, in some diverse genera only the combin...

Las hormigas son uno de los grupos de insectos más comunes en los ecosistemas terrestres del mundo. Son muy importantes en casi todos los aspectos de la biología y la vida humana. Por su biomasa, su impacto en la estructura y en la dinámica de los bosques, sus múltiples aspectos en la biología de comportamiento, sus variadas fuentes de alimentación...

Amblyoponinae es una subfamilia de hormigas relativamente pequeña y poco coleccionada. Se caracteriza por las proyecciones dentiformes en el margen anterior del clípeo y/o labro y el peciolo con articulación amplia con el tercer segmento abdominal (primero del gáster): el peciolo no posee una cara posterior claramente visible. Las obreras son crípt...

Las hormigas de la subfamilia Formicinae se distinguen fácilmente porque todas las hembras, obreras y reinas poseen acidoporo (ano circular rodeado de una franja de pelos). Aún en especies con obreras de tamaño pequeño el acidoporo se puede observar principalmente en vista lateral. Además, el mesosoma y metasoma están unidos por un sólo segmento, e...

A synopsis of the 27 species of ants of the genus Crematogaster known for Colombia is presented, with an illustrated key that includes species of probable presence.

Colombia is a country with a high diversity of ants; however, several new taxa are still being reported for the country. Forty seven new records for the country are registered here, all in the subfamily Myrmicinae: one new species record for the genera Adelomyrmex, Allomerus, Kempfidris, Megalomyrmex, Octostruma and Tranopelta; two for Rogeria; f...

This paper presents an updated list of soil ants of the Colombian Amazon collected in three different river basins: the Amazon, the Caquetá and the Putumayo. The list includes 10 subfamilies, 60 genera and 218 species collected from TSBF monoliths at four different depths (Litter, 0 - 10 cm, 10 - 20 cm and 20 - 30 cm). This updated list increases c...

Scaptocoris Perty, 1833 (Cephalocteinae) is an economically important genus of burrowing bug because its species attack various crops like pastures, soybean and cotton in South America. The genus Scaptocoris has seven described species in the Neotropical region. Given a confusing history of identifications of its species in Colombia, there is uncer...

Fungus-farming ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) have become model systems for exploring questions regarding the evolution of symbiosis. However, robust phylogenetic studies of both the ant agriculturalists and their fungal cultivars are necessary for addressing whether or not observed ant-fungus associations are the result of coevolution and, if so,...

Las avispas cazadoras de arañas son una familia de himenópteros (Pompilidae) cuyas hembras cazan exclusivamente arañas para alimentar a su progenie, siendo siempre un huevo por araña paralizada. Hay una notable diversidad de tamaños, desde algunas pequeñas de pocos milímetros hasta las gigantescas Pepsis, cazadoras de tarántulas cuyas hembras puede...

The Galapagos Islands are of great importance due to their role at the dawn and consolidation of the Darwinian model of evolution (Sulloway 1982); their geologically recent origin and oceanic location make them a natural laboratory for the study of many evolutionary and ecological processes (Schluter 1986, Grant & Grant 2009). As a consequence, sev...

One of the greatest threats to biodiversity and the sustainable functioning of ecosystems is the clearing of forests for agriculture. Because litter-dwelling ants are very good bioindicators of man-made disturbance, we used them to compare monospecific plantations of acacia trees, cocoa trees, rubber trees and pine trees with the surrounding Neotro...

Citation: Waichert C, Fernández F, Castro-Huertas V, Rodriguez J, Pitts JP (2017) More new records of spider wasps from Colombia (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae). ZooKeys 658: 89–95. https://doi. Abstract Aporinellus Banks, Austrochares Banks and Dicranoplius Haupt are new generic records for Colombia, as well as the species Dipogon ariel Banks, Evagetes...

Ants in the Neotropical genus Sericomyrmex Mayr cultivate fungi for food. Both ants and fungi are obligate, coevolved symbionts. The taxonomy of Sericomyrmex is problematic because the morphology of the worker caste is generally homogeneous across all of the species within the genus, species limits are vague, and the relationships between them are...

Estudio de la Biodiversidad en Colombia: Un paso adelante, dos pasos atrás Uno de los aspectos que con más orgullo mencionan las instancias ambientales gu ber-namentales de Colombia es la riqueza biológica de nuestro país, usando a menudo la palabra " Megadiversidad ". De una u otra forma es cierto: en número de taxones de grupos conspicuos como pl...

Citation: Rabeling C, Sosa-Calvo J, O'Connell LA, Coloma LA, Fernández F (2016) Lenomyrmex hoelldobleri: a new ant species discovered in the stomach of the dendrobatid poison frog, Oophaga sylvatica (Funkhouser). ZooKeys 618: 79–95. Abstract The ant genus Lenomyrmex was recently discovered and described from mid to high elevation rainforests in sou...

Recently a new species of bombyliid fly, Marleyimyia xylocopae, was described by Marshall & Evenhuis (2015) based on two photographs taken during fieldwork in the Republic of South Africa. This species has no preserved holotype. The paper generated some buzz, especially among dipterists, because in most cases photographs taken in the field provide...

Ant dominance in tropical ecosystems can be explained by a capacity to exploit liquid foods such as extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) and secretions from honeydew-producing hemipterans (HPHs). Such nutritious exudates may determine ant distribution in space and shape specialization in ant–plant interactions. We provide a first assessment of how EFNs and...

A synopsis of the species of Centris subgenus Aphemisia Ayala in Colombia is presented. A total of six species were recognized: C. lilacina Cockerell, C. mocsaryi Friese, C. plumipes Smith and C. quadrimaculata Packard, including C. celadonia n. sp. and C. vallecaucensis n. sp., two new species described from the Departments of Huila and Valle del...

Apresentamos de forma condensada informações básicas sobre esses temas que a maioria dos mirmecólogos (as pessoas que estudam formigas) devem conhecer. Muita informação importante ficou de fora, mas esse viés foi proposital. Foi a única forma que encontramos para enfatizar as chaves de identificação e os gêneros de formigas da forma que merecem, ma...

Ectatomma is a genus of ants belonging to Ectatomminae, currently located in the Formicoid group. With 15 recognized species, the genus includes relatively large ants endemic to the Neotropical Region. These species are relatively common in diverse areas such as wet forest, savannah, and dry forest habitats below 1500 m in altitude. Most of them ar...

Phylogeny and systematics of the poneromorph ants - Ants in the original subfamily Ponerinae, have had a long and complex taxonomic history, which we review in this chapter. For many years (from the 50’s to the 90’s), and following the proposed reclassification of William Brown Jr., these ants were considered as a single subfamily, which included s...

Huarpea colombiana sp. nov. from Colombia (Meta) is described and illustrated. This is the first record of the family Sapygidae for Colombia and northern South America. Huarpea wagneriella (du Buysson, 1904) is redescribed. An updated key to Neotropical genera and species of Sapygidae is given.

Solenopsis Westwood (Myrmicinae: Solenopsidini) is an ant genus that represents a taxonomic challenge, including about 117 species in the New World, most of them Neotropical. Solenopsis can be divided into two artificial groups: “fire ants” and “thief ants”. The second group is represented by species often difficult to identify because of their sma...

New records of genera and species of stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) from Colombia are provided. Two genera are new records for South America: Alathetus and Schraderiellus. Fifteen genera are new record for Colombia: Agaclitus, Boea, Ceratozygum, Euthyrhynchus, Eritrachys, Doesburguedessa, Lopadusa, Marmessulus, Paralincus, Patanius, Peromatus...

Solenopsis Westwood (Myrmicinae: Solenopsidini) is an ant genus that represents a taxonomic challenge, including about 117 species in the New World, most of them Neotropical. Solenopsis can be divided into two artificial groups: "fire ants" and "thief ants". The second group is represented by species often difficult to identify because of their sma...

The members of Dorylinae are dominant predators in tropical and subtropical terrestrial ecosystems. The most cryptic army ant genus of the New World is Cheliomyrmex. The only species recognized until now for the Amazon Brazilian Basin is C. andicola, recorded in the state of Acre. We provided the first records of Cheliomyrmex megalonyx to Brazil in...

The genus Simopelta consists of 21 described species restricted to Central America and South America. The present study describes a new cryptobiotic species, Simopelta anomma sp. nov.. The new species is blind, possesses a 3-segmented an-tennal club, and has the midtibia with several stout setae, a combination of characters unique within the genus....

We present a synopsis of the leaf cutting ants (Acromyrmex and Atta) of Colombia. Currently, we report two genera and twelve species for the country, including: Acromyrmex aspersus (Smith F., 1858) = Acromyrmex aspersus fuhrmanni Forel, 1914 N. Syn.; Acromyrmex coronatus (Fabricius, 1804); Acromyrmex hystrix (Latreille, 1802); Acromyrmex landolti F...

The members of Dorylinae are dominant predators in tropical and subtropical terrestrial ecosystems. The most cryptic army ant genus of the New World is Cheliomyrmex. The only species recognized until now for the Amazon Brazilian Basin is C. andicola, recorded in the state of Acre. We provided the first records of Cheliomyrmex megalonyx to Brazil in...

En el presente trabajo se documentan especies y géneros de hormigas asociadas a hojarasca, capturadas usando trampas winkler tanto en fragmentos de bosque como en cafetales de sombra en los municipios de Quipile y Pulí (Cundinamarca) durante el 2011 y 2012. Todos los registros se encuentran actualmente depositados en la colección de zoología del In...

Sawflies include those Hymenoptera without apparent constriction between the thorax and abdomen and all of which, except Orussidae, are phytophagous. Some species are of economic importance. Phylogenetically they occupy a basal position in Hymenoptera. Orussidae are the sister group of all other Hymenoptera; in both, larvae of most species are carn...

During a ten-days ant course carried out in November 2012 within the framework of a Belgian Focal Point to the Global Taxonomy Initiative GTI type 2 grant, eight students and four instructors collected 22 ant species at ten sites distributed along an altitudinal gradient on Santa Cruz Island in the Galápagos Archipelago (Ecuador). Disturbed and urb...

New records of genera and species of spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) from Colombia are provided. Agenioideus, Cryptocheilus, Evagetes, Mystacagenia, and Xerochares are newly recorded genera from Colombia. Nineteen species are first recorded from Colombia: Aimatocarevitrea (Fox); Ageniellaazteca (Cameron); Ageniellacurtipinus (Cameron); Ageni...

Con base en la revisión de diferentes caracteres taxonómicos en 320 ejemplares depositados en colecciones de referencia y en las recolectas de campo se confirmó la presencia en Colombia de las especies Sceliphron asiaticum y Sceliphron fistularium que se diferencian por patrones de coloración, el propodeo en asiaticum tiene una mancha entera y en f...

The new genus Kempfidris is described based on workers of a single species, K. inusualis (n. comb.), from Brazil, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Kempfidris inusualis was originally described by Fernández in 2007 and provisionally placed in Monomorium awaiting a better understanding of the internal relationships in Myrmicinae. Kempfidris has a series of di...

Brachymyrmex is a taxonomically challenging ant genus that is badly in need of review. Most species are very small and soft bodied and current descriptions regularly lack clarity making species identification a daunting task. Furthermore, the monophyly of Brachymyrmex has not been established and the relationships among its species and with closely...

We compared the ant assemblages from four very heterogeneous habitats over a short-distance elevational gradient of vegetation (due to the presence of an inselberg) at the Nouragues Research Station, French Guiana. We focused on litter-dwelling ants, combining the use of pitfall traps and the Winkler method according to the Ants of the Leaf Litter...

A synopsis of the Colombian mud dauber wasps of the genus Sceliphron is offered. Two species are known for the country: S. asiaticum and S. fistularium, based on study of museum specimens and field collections. Literature records of S. caementarium are uncertain as specimens of this species could not be examined. Keys, descriptions, high resolution...

A synopsis of the species of Centris subgenus Xanthemisia Moure in Colombia is presented. The species identified are Centris ferruginea Lepeletier, C. lutea Friese and C. aureiventris, a new species from the Colombian Andes. Morphological characters of both sexes, distribution records and an identification key for the three species of the subgenus...

The ant genus Sphinctomyrmex has been represented in the Neotropical Region until now by a single species, S. stali, known only from sparse localities in southeastern Brazil. Two new neotropical species are herein described, S. marcoyi sp. n. and S. schoerederi sp. n. from workers collected in the Brazilian Amazon and Atlantic Forest, respectively....

The rarely collected ant Lenomyrmex inusitatus Fernández 2001 is recorded for the first time in Ecuador. The queen is described. The new record is the southernmost limit of distribution for the genus. A key to the workers of the six Lenomyrmex species and a key for the known queens are provided.

The authors would like to thank Donat Agosti, Joe Cora, Jacques Forel, Norm Johnson, Bert Hölldobler, and Sanford Porter who assisted in various ways, along with the numerous anonymous referees. J. Delabie is supported by the FAPESB/CNPq project PNX001/2009 and a research grant by CNPq.

Se describe la nueva especie de hormiga Pheidole iceni (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) con base en obreras mayores y menores de Chocó, Colombia. La hormiga se nombra en honor del Instituto de Ciencias Naturales de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia en su aniversario 75 de su fundación.

The present study examines insect diversity (Entognatha and Polyneoptera) in Colombia in terms of number of families, genera and species, in light of the most recent systematic data on the orders treated. We also highlight the work of active specialists and literature sources that are particularly relevant for the study of the Colombian entomofauna...