''Cephalotes nilpiei'' is a species of arboreal ant of the genus '' Cephalotes'', characterized by an odd shaped head and the ability to "parachute" by steering their fall if they drop off of the tree they're on. Giving their name also as

gliding ant Gliding ants are arboreal ants of several different genera that are able to control the direction of their descent when falling from a tree. Living in the rainforest canopy like many other gliders, gliding ants use their gliding to return to the ...

s. The species is native of the Brazilian states of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. Their larger and flatter legs, a trait common with other members of the genus ''Cephalotes'', gives them their gliding abilities and eases their arboreal movement. The species was first given a description and a classification in 1845 by French

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville. Guérin-Méneville erroneously classed the specimen he described as a member of the species ''

Cephalotes pinelii ''Cephalotes pinelii'' is a species of arboreal ant of the genus '' Cephalotes'', characterized by an odd shaped head and the ability to "parachute" by steering their fall if they drop off of the tree they're on. Giving their name also as glidi ...

''. Brazilian entomologist

Maria de Andrade Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...

studied the species once again in 1999 and gave it the name ''nilpiei'', an anagram of pinelii. The closest relative of ''nilpiei'' is '' Cephalotes pineili''.

References

nilpiei {{Cephalotes-stub