Mycocepurus goeldii

Distribution
Ranging approximately from the 40th to the 67th meridian west and from the 2nd to the 31st latitude south, an area covering most of Brazil, parts of Bolivia, Paraguay and northern Argentina.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Argentina, Brazil, Guyana, Paraguay.

Habitat
The range of habitats occupied by M. goeldii is remarkably diverse and ranges from Amazon rainforest, savannahs (Cerrado) to the fertile South American lowlands (Pampas), and secondary habitats disturbed by human activities. It does not occur in elevated sites of the South American Cordilleras.

Abundance
Abundant and conspicuous.

Biology
Rabeling & Bacci (2010) - Mycocepurus goeldii is a conspicuous, widely distributed species. The natural history of Mycocepurus goeldii has been studied near Sao Paulo City (Luederwaldt, 1918, 1926) and in the Manaus region of the Amazon Basin (Rabeling et al., 2007b).

In Rio Claro, Sao Paulo State, Brazil Mycocepurus goeldii is parasitized by Mycocepurus castrator.

Colony Attributes
A natural history study of M. goeldii in the Amazon Basin (Rabeling et al., 2007b) showed that some colonies had a single queen, whereas others were occupied by as many as four queens. Dissection of eight individuals from three separate colonies revealed that all of them were inseminated and had fully developed ovaries, demonstrating that these colonies were functionally polygynous. A M. goeldii colony studied in 2008 contained a single reproductively active queen, 33 alate queens, 496 workers and no males. During the excavation, males and queens were leaving the maternal colony for their nuptial flight, which started on 7 October.

Nomenclature

 *  goeldii. Atta (Mycocepurus) goeldii Forel, 1893g: 370 (footnote) (w.) BRAZIL. Forel, 1908c: 353 (q.m.). Combination in Mycocepurus: Luederwaldt, 1918: 39. Senior synonym of gentilis, ogloblini Santschi, ogloblini Kusnezov, schuppi: Kempf, 1963b: 420.
 * schuppi. Atta (Mycocepurus) goeldii var. schuppi Forel, 1901d: 301 (w.) BRAZIL. Combination in Mycocepurus: Emery, 1924d: 335. Junior synonym of goeldii: Kempf, 1963b: 420.
 * gentilis. Mycocepurus goeldii st. gentilis Santschi, 1925b: 17 (w.) BRAZIL. Junior synonym of goeldii: Kempf, 1963b: 420.
 * ogloblini. Mycocepurus ogloblini Santschi, 1933e: 119, figs. 12, 13 (w.q.) ARGENTINA. Junior synonym of goeldii: Kempf, 1963b: 420.
 * ogloblini. Descolemyrma ogloblini Kusnezov, 1951d: 460, pl. 1, fig. 1 (m.) ARGENTINA. [Unresolved junior secondary homonym of ogloblini Santschi, above.] Junior synonym of goeldii: Kempf, 1963b: 420.