The Pilot Study On The Fauna Of Formicidae And The Resources Of Medical Ants In Xinjiang

The main contents of this article include: (1) study the ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidiae) fauna and its components in Xinjiang by organizing and identifying the specimens which collected in the insects specimens laboratory of life science and technology College, Xinjiang university from the everywhere of Xinjiang during 2001-2002, with combination of the conventional methods and the electroscopic scanning technique; (2) analyze the trace elements of some ants in Xinjiang with the atomic absorbing spectrum technology; (3)investigate the statues of medical ants resource in Xinjiang.The research gets the results as following:1) According to our studies, there are about 81 species of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Xinjiang belonging to 3 sub-families and 16 genera, of which there are 43 new record species in china and 3 new species. This article provides the description of the new species and 42 electroscopic scanning pictures.2) Compile the key to species of Formicidae in Xinjiang3) The fauna composition's analysis indicates that the components of the Formicidae in Xinjiang are complicated, mainly including Palaeoarctic species, Neoarctic species, Holo-Arctic species and Widespread species. Among the Palaeoarctic species there are Mid-Asian species, Centro-Asian species, Endemic species, Euro-Siberian, Mediterranean, Euro-Mid-Asian, Mid-Centro-Asian, European species and Panto-Palaeoarctic species. In the known 81 species' ants in Xinjiang the Palaeoarctic species is 74 species, 91.35 % of the total number; 2 Neoarctic species, 2.47% of the total number, 1 Holo-Arctic species, 1.23% of the total number; Widespread species is 4, 4.9% of the total number.In the Palaeoarctic species the Mid-Asian species is dominant including 29 species, 39.2% of the Palaeoarctic species; less common is Panto-Palaeoarctic species including 16 species, 21.6 % of the Palaeoarctic species; 11 European species is 14.9%; Euro-Mid-Asian and Endemic respective 4 species amount to 5.4% respectively; Centro-Asian, Euro-Siberian and Mid-Centro-Asian respective 3 species amount to 4.1 % of the Palaeoarctic species respectively; 1 Mediterranean species, amount to 1.4% of the Palaeoarctic species.The origin of the Formicidae in Xinjiang was also discussed according to the fauna components' characteristics.4) The study of the geological distribution of the Formicidae in Xinjiang indicates that Tianshan Mountain has most various kinds of the ant (46 species) amounting to 56.8 percent of the total number; The next is Altay Mountain containing 22 species, 27 percent; the last is Karakorum Mountain just having 13 species, 16%. Dongjiang Basins and Ili River Valley each has 20 species, 24% respectively. Junggar Basin is 19 species, amounting to 23 percent; Tarim Basin is 18 species, 22%.As for the vertical distribution, Proformica Ruzsky, Cataglyphis Foerster, Tetramorium May, Plagiolepis Mayr and Crematogaster Lund are the main species in the Basin deserts of which the most are xeric; Formica L, Camponotus Mayr are mainly found in the mountainous region and Messor Forel most are mesophytic mainly distributed in grassland and forest. The total species of the ant distributed in the Tianshan Mountain in Northern part of Xinjiang, Altay Mountain, Junggar Basin and Ili River Valley amounts to 66, whereas that distributed in the Dongjiang Basins and Southern part of Xinjiang is just 44. So there are much more kinds of ant distributed in Northern parts of Xinjang than that in the Southern and Eastern parts of Xinjiang, but the ant spread wildly in the southern parts of Xinjiang.5) There are 10 species ants in Xinjiang can be regarded as potential medical resource. The comparing analysis of the trace elements and investigation of populations indicate that the medical ants with higher medical values and big biomass can be exploited.