Diversity of Ant Species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) along Cauvery River Basin, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Ants are the social insects under the order Hymenoptera are playing an important role in the ecosystem. They help human beings as seed dispersal agent, pollinators and controlling harmful insect pest. They are the most divergent group of insect distributed universally and constitute greater part of biomass. They play very important role in the ecosystem by enriching soil fertility, decomposing process, etc. Congregation of ants indicates the environmental disturbance in an ecosystem. Among the insect communities ants communicate each other through pheromones secretion and obedient characters follow each other for searching food, collection and storing their food in safer place of their tunnel. They depend both plant and animal matters as food item for them. Ants are the species which is an architect to build the burrow is an evident of engineering system in the ecosystem. The present study investigate the diversity of ant species in and around the Kumbakonam area of Cauvery delta region and recorded 21 species of ants under 14 genera and four subfamilies. The recorded four subfamilies of ants, Formicinae was the dominant subfamily in terms of species richness followed by Dolichoderinae, Myrmicinae and Ponerinae. This study may bring out the availability of ant species in the region and make as a preliminary research on ants in the future researchers.