Geographic Records of Subfamilies, Genera and Species of Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) In The Four Climatic Zones of Sri Lanka: A Review

Abstract

Ants are a major biotic component in the terrestrial environment of Sri Lanka. For the first time, geographic records of worker ants from the surveys conducted in the four climatic zones of Sri Lanka from 1999 to 2016 have been summarized. Geographic records of subfamilies, genera and 95 species of ants from variety of localities in each climatic zone were pooled and tabulated for each taxon. Among the 11 subfamilies, Amblyoponinae, Dolichoderinae, Formicinae, Myrmicinae, Ponerinae and Pseudomyrmecinae were common to the lands in the four zones while each of the other subfamilies were recorded from a single zone or two or three zones only. The Sri Lankan Relict Ant in Aneuretinae has many records in the wet zone and two records in the intermediate zone. Twenty two among 64 ant genera were recorded from the four climatic zones; 42 genera were found in a single zone or two or three zones. Recorded occurrence of each of the 95 species showed that 24 including 8 invasive species, Anoplolepis gracilipes, Monomorium pharaonis, Paratrechina longicornis, Solenopsis geminata, Tapinoma melanocephalum, Technomyrmex albipes, Tetramorium bicarinatum and Trichomyrmex destructor were common to the four zones. Further surveys on ants of Sri Lanka are highly recommended for improving the current knowledge on their occurrence and to provide information on the distribution of endemic and invasive ant species in Sri Lanka.