Fauna And Species Diversity Of Ants From Mount Demola In Southeastern Tibet

In order to reveal the role of ant diversity in southeastern Tibet, ant fauna andspecies diversity of Mount Demola were investigated by sample-plot and search-collectingmethods. Totally95species belonging to5subfamilies and31genera of Formicidae arerecognized. Three new species are described: Amblyopone kangba sp. nov., Prenolepisdemola sp. nov., and Prenolepis ciba sp. nov. Besides,42new record species to Tibet and3new record species to China are found.In the95species,12species belong to Palaearctic,61species belong to Oriental, and22species belong to Palaearctic-Oriental. Faunistic data show that the bundary ofPalaearctic and Oriental is between1870m to3000m on Mount Demola.The result of community analysis shows that there are2dominent species (26.4%):Pheidole nietneri Emery and Paratrechina sakurae (Ito),15common species (58.6%), and78rare species (15.0%). The abundance of rare species increases the diversity of antcommunity.In the24sample plots, species numbers are0-21(average8.4), individual densities are0-1706.2heads/m2(average254.0heads/m2), diversity indexes are0.3461-1.2073(average1.0216), evenness indexes are0.2150-0.7703(average0.5161), and dominantindexes are0.1627-0.8119(average0.4875). The richness order of species numbers on eastslope is low altitude> middle altitude> high altitude, meanwhile lower altitude> highaltitude> middle altitude on the west slope. The diversity indexes are closely related tovegetation zones and originality, higher in original vegetations and lower in secondaryones.Similarity coefficients between ant communities of different sample plots are0.000-0.6923(average0.3109), which represent a dissimilar to moderate similar level.Similarity between ant communities increases with the increasing of altitude, but decreaseswith the increasing of distance.In the16habitats, ant species numbers are richest in Pinus yunnanensis forest. Besides,order of species numbers are low altitude> middle altitude> high altitude in the otherhabitats. In the9forage places, ant species numbers are richest on the ground, successivelyinside soil and on the plants. In the11nest sites, ant species numbers are richest understone, successively inside decayed wood and inside soil. The selection of ants to vegetationtypes is restricted by altitude, temperature, and plant abundance. Ant species expressdistinct selection differentiation to habitats, forage places, and nesting sites. The richdistribution patterns of ant communities in the area are facilitated by the common effect ofcircumstance restriction and selection differentiation of ant species.