BIODIVERSITAS ISSN: 1412-033X Volume 20, Number 9, September 2019 E-ISSN: 2085-4722 Pages: 2536-2546 DOI: 10.13057/biodiv/d200915 The first report of ants (Formicidae: Hymenoptera) in salt marshes and salt pans in central parts of Iran MOHAMMAD REZA MOHSENI 1, ♥ , SHAHROKH PASHAEI RAD 2, ♥♥ 1 Department of Animal Science, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. ♥ email: mrmohseni1992@gmail.com 2 Associate Professor of Animal Biosystematics, Faculty of Life Science & Biotechnology, Department of Animal Science & Biotechnology, Shahid Beheshti University G.C., Tehran, Iran. ♥♥ email: sp2191@gmail.com) Manuscript received: 29 June 2019. Revision accepted: 17 August 2019. Abstract. Mohseni MR, Pashaei Rad SP. 2019. The first report of ants (Formicidae: Hymenoptera) in salt marshes and salt pans in central parts of Iran. Biodiversitas 20: 2536-2546. This study attempts to introduce the ant species of salt marshes and salt pans in central parts of Iran. Investigating the effects of ecological factors on the ant species diversity and distribution is the other main aim of this study. The study was conducted in salt marshes and salt pans in central parts of Iran. As many as 121 specimens of ants were collected by trapping and hand during spring, summer and autumn from 2017 to 2019. The vegetation, physical and chemical parameters of soil such as salinity, pH and other factors were investigated. Messor ebeninus (Santschi, 1927), Monomorium indicum (Forel, 1902), Monomorium rimae n. sp. (Collingwood & Agosti 1996), Tetramorium sp. (Mayr, 1855), Cataglyphis niger (André, 1881), Cataglyphis bellicosus (Karavaiv, 1924), Cataglyphis setipes (Forel, 1894), Cataglyphis lividus (André, 1881) and Lepisiota dolabellae (Forel, 1911) belong to two subfamilies of Myrmicinae and Formicinae were identified. Darband Shoor Mountain had the highest ant diversity with five species in which the area had the highest vegetation density and the lowest salinity of soil (72.14 ds/m), whereas Salt Lake that had no vegetation and the highest salinity of soil (153.15 ds/m) had only one species, which is C. lividus, indicating a high adaptation of this species to salt pans and salt marshes. C. lividus was the dominant species in all the stations except in Darband Shoor Mountain. To our knowledge, all species were reported for the first time from salt marshes and salt pans in the central parts of Iran. Keywords: Ant, salt marsh, salt pan, soil, vegetation INTRODUCTION Ants with more than 12,000 species, play a very crucial role in earth's ecosystem and are known as soil engineers (Ward 2007; Sanders and Van Veen 2011; Griffiths et al. 2017). Ants' biodiversity and their role in nature are more significant than those of humans (Folgarait 1998; Wardle et al. 2011; Luke et al. 2014; Houadria et al. 2016 and Griffiths et al. 2017). Investigating these impacts is of overriding importance in the development of medical sciences, agriculture, strategic studies, etc. Therefore, it is essential to identify the species living at each station based on its biological and ecological conditions. (Clark et al. 2011; Cardoso and Schoereder 2014; Belchior et al. 2016). Considering a few investigations and the need to complete the ants' fauna, especially in special biotic zones, the present study aims to collect and identify existing species in salt pan habitats and salt marshes of the central parts of Iran with their distinctive vegetation. Several studies have been conducted on ants’ ecosystem, distribution and biodiversity, especially in different parts of the world, including Davis and Gray’s (1966) studies, McCoy and Rey (1987), Schultz (2000), Agosti and Johnson (2003), Palomo et al. (2003), Jones (2008), Rabeling et al. (2008), Jilkova et al. (2012), Loken and Oliver (2016) and Dahmen et al. (2017) and etcetera. Ants exist on all continents except Antarctica and only a few major islands such as Greenland, Iceland, parts of Polynesia and the Hawaiian Islands lacking native species (Jones 2008 and Ward 2007). Ants can eat vegetarian food directly or indirectly, as well as being able to hunt and eat because they use a wide range of foods. They have been able to spread and expanded in many lands. Among animals, ants make up 15% to 20% of different habitats and 25% of the tropics (Schultz 2000). Generally speaking, salt ecosystems are not regarded as appropriate environments for the distribution and biodiversity of animal species, but adaptation of each species to these types of habitats due to less competitiveness and more access to food sources, can bring about a rapid growth and distribution in the future (Loken and Oliver 2016; Foster and Treherne 1976). Special conditions of these types of ecosystems such as specific physical and chemical parameters of the soil like high salt levels, the absence of many plant species incompatible with these unique regions and climates of these ecosystems impose restrictions on the presence of many species of animals. This sort of limitation is much more pronounced in some habitats. For example, salt marsh and salt pan ecosystems in desert regions with scorching and dry climates and very poor vegetation would be much more understandable to biological constraints (Mohseni 2018). Salt ecosystem inhabitants regularly develop particular adaptations and behaviors to endure alternating dry conditions (Loken and Oliver 2016). Some organisms of