Alien Ant Species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Taksin Maharat National Park, Tak Province

Abstract

The alien ant species were carried out from Taksin Maharat National Park, Tak Province, western Thailand between December 2022 and July 2023 in three seasons: winter (December 2022), summer (April 2023), and rainy (July 2023). Pitfall traps were used to collect alien ants from two different kinds of habitats including 1) nature trail and 2) staff and tourist residences. A total of eight species, seven genera in three subfamilies were found in the study area. Of which, a species belongs to subfamily Dolichoderinae, Tapinoma melanocephalum ( Fabricius, 1793) ; two species in subfamily Formicinae that are Anoplolepis gracilipes ( Smith, 1857) and Paratrechina longicornis ( Latreille, 1802) ; and five species in subfamily Myrmicinae consisting of Monomorium floricola (Jerdon, 1851), Monomorium pharaonis (Linnaeus, 1758), Solenopsis geminata (Fabricius, 1804), Tetramorium kheperra (Bolton, 1976), and Trichomyrmex destructor (Jerdon, 1851). Currently, 15 alien ant species were previously recorded from Thailand. Thus, the alien ants found in this study were 53.33% of the alien ant species reported in Thailand. The most alien species were found in the summer. Anoplolepis gracilipse was the most abundant species that it can be adapted to all environments and likely to become an invasive alien species in natural forest ecosystem.