DIVERSITY OF GROUND DWELLING ANTS (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) IN JITPURPHEDI, TARKESHWOR OF KATHMANDU, NEPAL

Abstract

Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) are the mostdiverse and successful insects on theEarth. Ant diversity is likely high, but there have been few studies on the ant diversity distribution in Nepal. This study evaluated the ants diversity habitats wise and seasonally through different methods in Jitpurphedi, Tarkeshwor. Samples were collected in three different habitats viz. forests, cultivated land and grassland in rainy (2019), autumn (2019) and winter (2019 and 2020) using pitfall traps, bait traps and opportunistic manual collection. Altogether 1748 ants were collecte d including five subfamilies, 19 genera and 27morphospecies.SubfamilyFormicinae wasthe most dominant and Dorylinaewasthe least. Camponotous was the most abundant genus as well as most specious genus in all seasons. Among the three different habitats, the similarity index (0.77) was found highest between cultivated land and grassland. Forests were the species rich habitat wit h Shannon diversityindex3.11andevennessindex1.1.Similarly,highestnumberof antspecieswas collected in autumn season with Shannon diversity (2.96) and evenness index (0.9). The One-way ANOVA concluded that relationships between habitats and ant diversity as well as with seasons were statitistically insignificant as the p<0.05. Pitfall traps was the most effective technique for ant collection over bait traps and manual collection in all habitats and seasons.