Diversity and Distribution of Forest Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Nepal: Implications for Sustainable Forest Management

Abstract

The information available on the diversity of ant species and their distribution and interaction with forest health in Nepal remains limited. As part of a nationwide project on forest health, we conducted inventories to assess the diversity and distribution of forest ants and their role in forest management in Nepal. Ants were collected from 187 plots of 10 m × 10 m size along the north–south belt transects in eastern, central, and western Nepal. We used vegetation beating, sweeping, and hand collection methods in selected forest types. In each transect, we designed six plots in each major forest type (Sal, Schima–Castanopsis, and broadleaf mixed forests) and three plots each in deodar, Alnus, riverine, and Cryptomeria forests. We recorded 70 ant species from 36 genera and six subfamilies. This includes five genera and nine species new for the country, as well as eight tramp species, four of which are major ecological, agricultural, and/or household pests. Our study indicates that forest ant species richness is high in western Nepal and the Siwaliks, and it decreases as elevation increases. The high diversity of ant species in the forests of Nepal needs to be assessed with further exploration using multiple sampling methods covering all seasons and forest types. Ants can be useful indicators for ecosystem management and human impacts on forests. Reports of invasive ants in Nepalese forests indicate the relevance of urgent interventions through sustainable forest management initiatives to prevent future incursions.

Myrmicine ants of Nepal with six new records and updated species list (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae)

“…The five biggest genera, Pheidole, Strumigenys, Crematogaster, Tetramorium and Temnothorax account for more than half of the species of the subfamily Myrmicinae (Borowiec et al 2020;Bolton 2022). All of these richly speciose genera have also been found in Nepal (Subedi et al 2021c). This study reports one species each of Myrmica, Myrmicaria, Pheidole, and Temnothorax, and two species of Strumigenys as new records for Nepal.…”

Exploring vegetation's role in enhancing ant-based coffee berry borer control in an agroforestry system

“…Also, several factors, such as nesting sites, light availability, and soil conditions, affect ant needs. Therefore, unsuitable environments for ant nesting affect ant populations in a habitat (Subedi et al 2021).…”

New record of the Ponerine ant Buniapone amblyops (Emery, 1887) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Nepal

“…There has been very little research on Nepalese ants to date. Ponerine ants are currently represented by ten genera and 14 named species in Nepal (Subedi et al 2020(Subedi et al , 2021Adhikari et al 2020). This paper reports B. amblyops from Nepal for the first time and discusses morphological characters of worker, distribution, and ecology.…”