The diversity of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in district Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: New reports from Pakistan

Abstract

Taxonomically ants are the most neglected group of insects to be studied in Pakistan. The current study was conducted to collect ants from all three tehsils: Charsadda, Tangi and Shabqadar of district Charsadda. Ants were collected randomly from indoor (rooms, kitchen and washrooms) and outdoor (streets, crop fields, barren ground and grave yards) sites by using buccal aspirator, pitfall traps and hand pick method. A total of 19 species representing 11 genera and three subfamilies namely Formicinae, Myrmicinae and Dolichoderinae were identified during the present study. Myrmicinae was the most diverse subfamily with five genera (Crematogaster, Meranoplus, Messor, Monomorium and Pheidole) and 11 species (Crematogaster subnuda, Meranoplus bicolor, Messor instabilis, Monomorium aberrans, Mo. dichroum, Mo. indicum, Pheidole binghami, Ph. fergusoni, Ph. indica, Ph. latinoda, Ph. sulcaticeps). Fromicinae was presented by seven species placed in five genera: Camponotus having three species (C. compressus, C. oblongus and C. sericeus) and one species each of Cataglyphis (Ca. setipes), Lepisiota (L. frauenfeldi), Paratrechina (P. longicornis) and Polyrachis (Po. hauxwelli) while subfamily Dolichoderinae was represented by a single species i.e. Tapinoma melanocephalum. The current study reports one subfamily (Dolichoderinae) seven genera (Cataglyphis, Cremotogaster, Monomorium, Messor, Pheidole, Polyrachis and Tapinoma) with 13 species representing new country records for Pakistan.