Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF ANT FAUNA (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICINAE) IN SELECTED COASTAL REGION OF CENTRAL KERALA, INDIA

Anupa K. Antony, G. Prasad, Manoj Kripakaran and Neethu Karan

Abstract

Ants play on important roles in the ecosystem and are highly diverse and successful in varied habitats. Studies on ant communities of India are sparse and needed. Coast is an area where land meets water, which makes it an ecosystem with unique physical characteristics, highly sensitive to environmental disturbances and forms an important zone of discussion. Aim of this study was to examine the distribution of ants in the selected coastal habitats of Central Kerala. Two study sites were chosen for sampling of ants. Different sampling methods were used to collect ants from March 2016 to February 2017. We measured different diversity indices such as Shannon diversity index, Shannon evenness index, Simpson’s dominance index and Margalef’s richness index for ants of the study sites. We collected 42 species of ants in 25 genera and five subfamilies; Dolichoderinae, Formicinae, Myrmicinae, Ponerinae and Pseudomyrmecinae. The majority of species were in the Myrmicinae and Formicinae