Micro comparative study on diversity of ants species (hymenoptera: Formicidae) in goa

The study examined the diversity and density of ant species of Carmel College campus, Nuvem, Salcete Goa, as there was no adequate information relating to ant faunal diversity of this region, from July 2006 to April 2007. The ants were collected using various standard methods. The result showed that a total of 9202 individuals were collected from the study area. The sampled specimens represented 37 species belonging to 20 genera and six subfamilies. The most diverse subfamily in relation to species was Myrmicinae with 12 species, followed by subfamily Formicinae with eleven, Ponerinae with seven and Pseudomyrmicinae with four species. Less diversity was found in subfamily Dorylinae with just two species and Dolichoderinae with only one species. In the generic trend, eight genera were in subfamily Myrmicinae while five in Formicinae, four in Ponerinae and just one genus each in Dolichoderinae, Dorylinae and Pseudomyrmicinae. This study has yielded valuable information of ant diversity in this region as well as on the campus of Carmel College of Arts, Science and Commerce for Women. An effort was made to compare the findings of this study with that of a similar study conducted almost ten years later (2015–2016) in the same study area. The results showed a remarkable difference with four subfamilies, 13 genera and 17 species.