This is a quick look at the Chiapas baiting results for ants. Over the nine sites, we captured a total of 133 taxa (some species-level, some genus-level), as follows:
Acromyrmex coronatus
Acromyrmex echinatior
Acromyrmex octospinosus
Acropyga exsanguis
Adelomyrmex JTL009
Adelomyrmex JTL011
Adelomyrmex robustus
Adelomyrmex tristani
Aphaenogaster JTL001
Apterostigma
Atta cephalotes
Azteca
Brachymyrmex
Camponotus
Carebara urichi
Cephalotes cristatus
Cephalotes maculatus
Cephalotes minutus
Cephalotes scutulatus
Crematogaster brasiliensis
Crematogaster curvispinosa
Crematogaster formosa
Crematogaster nigropilosa
Crematogaster opaca
Cyphomyrmex rimosus s.l.
Cyphomyrmex salvini
Dolichoderus bispinosus
Forelius damiani
Gnamptogenys hartmani
Gnamptogenys interrupta
Gnamptogenys porcata
Gnamptogenys simulans
Gnamptogenys strigata
Gnamptogenys sulcata
Gnamptogenys tornata
Hylomyrma dentiloba
Hypoponera
Labidus coecus
Leptogenys JTL009
Megalomyrmex silvestrii
Mycocepurus smithii
Myrmelachista
Myrmicocrypta
Neivamyrmex opacithorax
Neivamyrmex sumichrasti
Nesomyrmex dalmasi
Octostruma balzani s.l.
Odontomachus laticeps
Odontomachus meinerti
Odontomachus yucatecas
Pachycondyla apicalis
Pachycondyla harpax
Pachycondyla impressa
Pachycondyla purpurascens
Pachycondyla unidentata
Pachycondyla verenae
Paratrechina
Perissomyrmex snyderi
Pheidole acamata
Pheidole albipes
Pheidole anastasii
Pheidole arietans
Pheidole beloceps
Pheidole biconstricta
Pheidole bilimeki
Pheidole browni
Pheidole celaena
Pheidole cephalica
Pheidole colobopsis
Pheidole deceptrix
Pheidole dossena
Pheidole erethizon
Pheidole excubitor
Pheidole fimbriata
Pheidole flavens
Pheidole gauthieri
Pheidole gouldi
Pheidole harrisonfordi
Pheidole hasticeps
Pheidole JTL155
Pheidole JTL159
Pheidole JTL160
Pheidole JTL163
Pheidole JTL168
Pheidole JTL170
Pheidole JTL171
Pheidole JTL172
Pheidole JTL173
Pheidole mackayi
Pheidole mera
Pheidole mooreorum
Pheidole nebulosa
Pheidole nitella
Pheidole potosiana
Pheidole prolixa
Pheidole protensa
Pheidole psilogaster
Pheidole punctatissima
Pheidole rectisentis
Pheidole rectispina
Pheidole roushae
Pheidole rugiceps
Pheidole ruida
Pheidole simonsi
Pheidole specularis
Pheidole subarmata
Pheidole susannae
Pheidole texticeps
Pheidole tschinkeli
Pheidole tuxtlasana
Pheidole ursus
Pheidole walkeri
Pheidole wardi
Platythyrea prizo
Platythyrea punctata
Procryptocerus scabriusculus
Pseudomyrmex
Pyramica brevicornis
Pyramica margaritae
Rogeria cornuta
Rogeria tonduzi
Sericomyrmex aztecus
Solenopsis other
Solenopsis geminata
Stenamma
Strumigenys cordovensis
Tapinoma
Temnothorax JTL008
Temnothorax JTL015
Thaumatomyrmex ferox
Trachymyrmex intermedius
Wasmannia auropunctata
Xenomyrmex stollii
Not bad! Quite a diverse sample. 55 species of Pheidole!
Treating a baitline of 20 baits as one sampling unit, the distribution of per-baitline richness values by collector looks like this:
This is a good sign. They look pretty even across collectors, which means everyone did a great job and there weren't big differences among collectors. DJ has a high value or two, and I remember seeing in some of his samples some arboreal ants that aren't normally at ground baits. He was pretty enthusiastic; maybe how he defined things as "at the bait" was a little broader than others.
The distribution of per-baitline richness by elevation looks like this:
The distribution of total taxon richness (all baitlines at a site pooled) by elevation looks like this:
Both measures show a plateau of richness up to about 1000m, above which is a steep drop. There may be a hint of a mid-elevation peak, but I doubt if it can be statistically supported.
Good job all on some interesting results!