Ants inhabiting Cubitermes termitaries in African rain forests

• Published in: Biotropica 1996-12, Vol.28 (4, pt. B), p.701-713
• Main Authors: Dejean, A, Durand, J L, Bolton, B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0006-3606
• DOI: 10.2307/2389056

We hypothetized that termitaries of Cubitermes with their alveolate structure might constitute good shelters for ant colonies. We tested this hypothesis in 10 forests of southern Cameroon where we assessed a density of 124.48 plus or minus 13.6 Cubitermes fungifaber and C. banksi termitaries (both active and abandoned) per ha. Our work was undertaken on 725 termitaries among which we distinguished three groups: active, vertical (358); abandoned, vertical (220); and fallen abandoned (147). The rate of termitaries sheltering ant societies is higher for those which are abandoned (92.5% for fallen ones; 83.6% for vertical ones) than for those which are active (43.8%). We recorded 799 ant societies belonging to 37 genera and 151 species, of which 11 are undescribed. We found up to six ant colonies per termitary. These termitaries, which are frequent in the understory, thus proved to be good shelters for ant societies. Moreover, this represents one of the highest levels of diversity of ants ever recorded, although these termitaries correspond to a limited area in comparison to that represented by the soil and leaf litter, rotten wood lying on the ground, or trees' trunks and canopy. These results imply that in the rain forest the scarcity of nesting sites is one of the principal factors limiting the populations of ground-dwelling ants. The termitaries sampled also sheltered 103 incipient ant colonies (12.9% of the total number of societies) which belong principally to the Formicinae (71.7% of the societies of Formicinae recorded were incipient; 4.3% for the Ponerinae; 5.9% for the Myrmicinae and 0% for the Cerapachyinae and the Dolichoderinae). Depending on the subfamily, the Cubitermes termitaries are used as shelter only during foundation (Formicinae) or during the entire life cycle (other subfamilies).