Litter ants from Chiapas to Nicaragua: Highlights from the LLAMA project

The layer of rotting wood and leaf litter beneath tropical wet forests is a concentrated zone of biological activity. Macroarthropods are dominant elements of the "brown food-web" that inhabits the litter layer, yet their taxonomy, biogeography, and diversity patterns are poorly understood. The Leaf Litter Arthropods of MesoAmerica project (LLAMA) carried out replicated, quantitative sampling of litter arthropods at 34 mature wet forest sites from Chiapas, Mexico, to Nicaragua. Highlights of results are presented, emphasizing elevational patterns of richness and species composition for ants.