Ant fauna on the mangroves of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, Karnataka, India

The present study records the diverse ant fauna of mangrove habitats located at chitrapu, sasihithlu and ullal in dakshina Kannada district and at hejamadi in udupi district (lies between 12° 48’ to 13° 06’ n latitude and 74° 45’ to 74° 51’ e longitude) along the west coast of Karnataka. A total of 16 species recorded in present study have been placed under 8 genera and 4 subfamilies viz., Myrmicinae, dolichoderinae, Pseudomyrmecinae and Formicinae. The subfamily Myrmicinae is represented by 8 species followed by dolichoderinae, Pseudomyrmecinae (3 species each) and Formicinae (2 species). The alpha diversity indices obtained suggest that the ant species in mangrove habitat at sasihithlu are more diverse and evenly distributed as compared to other mangrove sites studied.