Ant fauna was investigated in the Bogor Botanic Garden (Kebun Raya Bogor), West Java, Indonesia, by the following sampling methods: (1) collection of ants on tree trunks, (2) collection of litter ants using a handy sifter, (3) pitfall traps, (4) sugar baits, (5) collection of ants on bamboo shoots, (6) searching for colonies, (7) collection of foraging workers. In all, 216 species representing all the subfamilies known from the Oriental region were collected in 1985 and between 1990 and 1998. After intensive collections in 1995 and 1997, the cumulative number of ant species was still increasing slowly in 1998. The ant fauna was compared with the results from other sites in Southeast Asia, and those of preliminary surveys made by us in four national parks in West Java, i.e., Ujung Kulon and Pangandaran (lowland forests), and Gunung Halimun and Gunung Gede (mountain forests). Species composition in the Bogor Botanic Garden was similar to that of lowland rainforests in West Java, but remarkably different from mountain forests.Key words: ants / diversity / Indonesia / sampling method / fauna / Leptanilla Ants are one of the most dominant terrestrial animal groups in the tropics (Wilson, 1990). Most ants are predators so that they may have an important function in tropical ecosystems. In spite of the importance of studying biology and ecology of tropical ants, our knowledge of them is still scanty and fragmental. Even their taxonomy, basic to the study of every aspect of biology, is desperately incomplete (Ogata, 1992). Especially in the Oriental tropics, myrmecofauna has been rarely investigated after the pioneer works by F. Smith, C. Emery, A. Fore1, and W. M. Wheeler in the late 19th and early 20th century. Beside the importance of their function in ecosystem, ants are now regarded to be useful insects as an indicator of biodiversity (e.g., Andersen, 1990;Majer & Beeston, 1996; Abensperg-Traun et ai., 1996;Longino & Colwell, 1997; Lawton et ai., 1998 (Rosciszewski, 1995;Yamane, 1997; Yamane et ai., 1996;Chung & Maryati, 1996; Briihl et ai., 1998), though solid information on the ant fauna has not yet been available for any place in Indonesia (but see Dammermann, 1948 for the Krakataus). We have collected ants from several sites in West Sumatra and West Java during our researches on population dynamics of phytophagous insects and social organization and ecology of several ant species (see other papers in this volume, and those cited in this paper). As a first report of our myrmecofaunal survey in Indonesia, we will give a list of ants collected in the Bogor Botanic Garden, West Java, discuss the relative efficiency of different sampling methods, and compare ant faunas of Asian tropical forests.The Bogor Botanic Garden is a famous tropical botanic garden established in early 19th, being one of the most attractive places to tourists in West Java. Several ant researchers already visited the Bogor Zoological Museum which was situated in the botanic garden, and collected ants there for taxonomic studies (e.g.,...
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