JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This content downloaded from 131.91.169.193 on Fri, 09 Oct 2015 00:06:48 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions BIOTROPICA 28(4b): 701-713 1996 ABSTRACT We hypothetized that termitaries of Cubitermes with their alveolate structure might constitute good shelters for ant colonies. We tested this hypothesis in 10 forests of southern Cameroon where we assessed a density of 124.48 ? 13.6 Cubitermes fungifaber and C banksi termitaries (both active and abandoned) per ha. Our work was undertaken on 725 termitaries among which we distinguished three groups: active, vertical (358); abandoned, vertical (220); and fallen abandoned (147). The rate of termitaries sheltering ant societies is higher for those which are abandoned (92.5% for fallen ones; 83.6% for vertical ones) than for those which are active (43.8%). We recorded 799 ant societies belonging to 37 genera and 151 species, of which 1 1 are undescribed. We found up to six ant colonies per termitary. These termitaries, which are frequent in the understory, thus proved to be good shelters for ant societies. Moreover, this represents one of the highest levels of diversity of ants ever recorded, although these termitaries correspond to a limited area in comparison to that represented by the soil and leaf litter, rotten wood lying on the ground, or trees' trunks and canopy. These results imply that in the rain forest the scarcity of nesting sites is one of the principal factors limiting the populations of ground-dwelling ants. The termitaries sampled also sheltered 103 incipient ant colonies (12.9% of the total number of societies) which belong principally to the Formicinae (71.7% of the societies of Formicinae recorded were incipient; 4.3% for the Ponerinae; 5.9% for the Myrmicinae and 0% for the Cerapachyinae and the Dolichoderinae). Depending on the subfamily, the Cubitermes termitaries are used as shelter only during foundation (Formicinae) or during the entire life cycle (other subfamilies).
