~ 361 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2016; 4(2): 361-364 E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 JEZS 2016; 4(2): 361-364 © 2016 JEZS Received: 25-01-2016 Accepted: 26-02-2016 BV Sonune Department of Zoology Moreshwar Arts, Science and Commerce College Bhokardan Tq. Bhokardan Dist. Jalna M.S. India. RJ Chavan Department of Zoology Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad-431004 Correspondence B V Sonune Department of Zoology Moreshwar Arts, Science and Commerce College Bhokardan Tq. Bhokardan Dist. Jalna M.S. India. Distribution and diversity of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) around Gautala Autramghat Sanctuary, Aurangabad Maharashtra, India BV Sonune, RJ Chavan Abstract The study was carried out to investigate the diversity and distribution of ants in agriculture, grassland, forest and human habitats located around Gautala Autramghat Sanctuary Dist. Aurangabad during February 2010 to January 2012. The ants were randomly collected from the study area, by all out search method. A total 17 species of ants belonging to thirteen genera and six subfamilies such as Formicinae, Myrmicinae, Ponerinae, Dolichoderinae, Aenictinae and Pseudomyrmicinae were reported from four different habitats of present study area. The subfamily Myrmicinae was found to be more diverse with 6 species, and then followed by Formicinae with 4 species, Pseudomyrmicinae with 3 species, Ponerinae with 6 species and Dolichoderinae & Aenictinae were found least diverse with only one species each. Members of Formicinae, Myrmicinae and Dolichoderinae were reported from all habitats but members of subfamily Ponerinae, Aenictinae and Pseudomyrmicinae were only reported from grassland and forest habitats. A Genus Tetraponera is most diverse comprising three species then followed by Monomorium and Camponotus comprising two species each from the present study area were reported. A genus Tetraponera is most diverse with three species and is followed by Monomorium and Camponotus each with two species. The Shannon Weiner diversity index of forest and grassland habitat was found highest as compared to human and agricultural habitats. The genus Crematogaster was found to be most abundant. Keywords: Formicidae, Ants diversity and distribution, Gautala Autramghat sanctuary, Aurangabad. Introduction Ants are one of the ideal model organisms for measuring and monitoring biodiversity for many reasons. It is abundant and dominant in ecological systems as a predator and symbiotic for plants and other organisms. These are relatively easy to collect in a standardized way, reasonably diverse at the site, identifiable and so on (e.g. Wilson 1976b, Holldobler & Wilson 1990, and Agosti et al. 2000) [30, 17, 1] . Since most ant species are stationary and have a perennial nest with a restricted foraging range, these are also useful as indicators of environmental conditions (Chung & Maryati 1996, Peck et al. 1998, Wang et al. 2000; Hashimoto et al. 2001, Andersen et al. 2002, Longino et al. 2002) [13, 23, 29, 16, 4, 21] . Globally, there are about 12,571 extant ant species. As per the recent classification, all ants are grouped into 21 subfamilies (Bolton 2003) [10] . All the ant species fall into the single family Formicidae. This family is included in the super family Vespidae of the order Hymenoptera, which is placed in the class Insecta. The Myrmicinae is the largest subfamily of the Formicidae, with 138 genera, followed by Formicinae that have 39 genera and Ponerinae which have 25 genera. Ants in India, occupy a variety of habitats such as leaf litter, trees, soil and dead logs, while tramp species prefer human-modified habitats. Myrmicinae forms the bulk of Indian ant diversity (45%) with genera Pheidole and Crematogaster having the most species. The subfamily, Formicinae is the second largest ant group (25% of species), with genera Camponotus and Polyrhachis constituting the majority of the diversity. The subfamily Ponerinae contributes about 14% of species of which genera Leptogenys the most diverse Gunawardene et al., (2007) [15] . In India, ant ecology and diversity was studied from some selected localities only. Gunawardene et al. (2007) published work on ants of the Western Ghats – Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot. Kumar et al. (1997) [19] . Reported the ant fauna from some areas of Bangalore City. Recently a list of 591 species of ants in India was released by Bharti (2007) [7] . The objective of this study was to find out ant diversity and distribution among the four different habitats such as agriculture, grassland, forest, and human habitats around Gautala