Department of Agricultural Entomology, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture & Research Institute, Karaikal - 609 603, Puducherry, India
*Corresponding author's E-mail: vaitheshkarthi@gmail.com
Online Published on 11 October, 2022.
The abundance and diversity of ant fauna was studied from June 2019 to February 2020 using 3 different collection methods (pitfall trap, in situ counts and net sweeping method) and 3251 individuals under 6 subfamilies of Formicidae were recorded. The most abundant subfamily was Myrmicinae with 46.90% species followed by Formicinae (37.22%). The biodiversity analysis with Shannon-Wiener index, Simpson's index and Equitability index revealed that the diversity was more for Myrmicinae (1.5750, 4.6831 and 0.7574) and Margalef richness index maximum with Ponerinae (0.9320). Among the 38 ants observed, the population of Pheidole spathifera (Forel) (Myrmicinae) was the maximum during August, 2019 and the least during June, 2019.
Abundance, Ant diversity, Horticultural ecosystems, Karaikal, Species richness
