Diversity of ants in Karekallu region of Hebbaka, Tumakuru, Karnataka, India

Ants are the integral part of ecosystems, represent a great part of the animal biomass and act as ecosystem engineers. Tropical habitats are home to a rich diversity of ants. Unfortunately, data on ants in natural and simulated habitats are poor, especially for the Indian region. The present study attempts to assess the diversity of ants in the agricultural fields of Brinjal, Ridge guard, Cucumber and Arecanut in Karekallu region of Hebbaka, Tumakuru Taluk and District. The work was undertaken due to the lack of adequate information regarding the diversity of ants in this region. The present study was carried out from November 2023 to April 2024. The ants were collected by search method. The result showed the presence of a total of 9 Species belonging to 6 genera and 4 sub-families. The most diverse sub-family found was Formicinae. Among the sampled genera, Camponotus showed the highest number of species representation with 4 species. Ants exhibit characteristics relevant to biodiversity studies such as plasticity, high diversity, numerical and biomass dominance in different habitats, ease of sampling and the presence of stationary nests. The present study provided valuable information on the availability of ants in the region and revealed that the region of Karekallu, Hebbaka, Tumakuru, has a rich diversity of ants despite of regular habitat changes. The study showed that ants can survive against all the hazards and the study area provides the opportunities to document the diversity of ant species.