A preliminary study on foraging distance and nesting sites of ants in indo-Chinese lowland vegetation (Insecta, Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

摘要

Foraging distance and nesting sites of ants were surveyed in several lowland vegetation types in N. Vietnam, by employing a bait-attraction method. A total of 74 colonies of 22 ant species were found. The number of soil-nesting colonies was much higher than that of twig-nesting colonies. Long-distance foraging species were Liometopum sp. 1 of SKY (maximum foraging distance > 10 m), Diacamma sculpturatum complex (5.14 m), Philidris sp. 3 of SKY (> 3.75 m), Aphaenogaster sp. eg-22 (1.42 m) and Odontoponera denticulata (1.16 m). In 16 of the 22 species maximum foraging distance did not exceed 1 In. Differences in the foraging distance were not significant between soil-nesting and rotting-wood-nesting colonies. Limited data on Liometopum sp. I of SKY and Philidris sp. 3 of SKY suggests the possibility that arboreal-nesting species which forage on the ground tend to have larger foraging, areas than the majority of ground-nesting species. The present results concerning foraging distance may have implications in designing a protocol including baiting.