Parasitism by Phorids on Leaf Cutter Ants (Linnaeus, 1758) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Natural and Agricultural Environments.

The leaf cutter ant (L.) (Hymenoptera:Formicidae) causes huge economic losses to agriculture in the Neotropics. In natural environments, parasitic flies of the Phoridae family are natural enemies of leaf cutter ants. Habitat modification is considered one of the main causes of species decline. In this study, we compare the occurrence of parasitic phorids on and the parasitism that they cause on colonies located in agricultural and natural habitats. Phorid flies were collected from trails, nest entrances, and cutting sites when they were hovering over workers of nests from natural vegetation, farmland, and plantation areas. Simultaneously, workers from nests were collected from these environments, and the parasitism rates of phorids were determined. Ants were parasitized by , , , , and . The highest parasitism rate (3.54 ± 0.49%) was registered for nests from the plantations. The rate of parasitism of nest from natural vegetation was 2.42 ± 0.40% and in the farmland was 1.91 ± 0.39%. The parasitism of each phorid genus varied according to habitat and month. had the highest parasitism in the three habitats and displayed biological characteristics that give it great potential as a biological control agent for spp. had higher parasitism in a natural environment and in agricultural environments. and seemed able to occur in a wide variety of habitats that their hosts occupy, but the rate of parasitism by spp. was significantly lower in agricultural environments.