International Journal of Agriculture Sciences ISSN: 0975-3710&E-ISSN: 0975-9107, Volume 7, Issue 15, 2015, pp.-915-917. Available online at http://www.bioinfopublication.org/jouarchive.php?opt=&jouid=BPJ0000217

LAC ASSOCIATED AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION IN ECO-SYSTEMS OF MADHYA PRADESH

KURMI ANIL1*, THOMAS M., NAMDEV B.K., SHEELA S.2 AND PACHORI R. 1Directorate of Research Services, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi VishwaVidyalaya Jabalpur, MP, 482004, 2Zoological Survey of India, West Bengal, India *Corresponding Author: Email- [email protected]

Received: December 16, 2015; Revised December 18, 2015; Accepted: December 19, 2015 Abstract- Ants and hemipterans are closely associated. lacca (Kerr) being a sap feeder secrets honey dew due to which ants commonly observed in lac eco-systems. Eleven belonging to 4 sub-families and 9 genera of Family Formicidae were recorded from three prominent lac eco-systems of Madhya Pradesh. Seven ants species were observed in S. oleosa based Kusmi lac eco-system in block Bankhedi while six ants species in Z. mauritiana based Rangeeni lac eco-system in block Barghat and five species in B. monosperma based Rangeeni lac eco-system in block Barghat. Keywords- Kerria lacca (Kerr), Ants, Eco-system, Madhya Pradesh, Distribution.

Citation: Kurmi Anil, et al., (2015) Lac Insect Associated Ants and Their Distribution in Lac Eco-Systems of Madhya Pradesh. International Journal of Agriculture Sciences, ISSN: 0975-3710 & E-ISSN: 0975-9107, Volume 7, Issue 15, pp.-915-917. Copyright: Copyright©2015 Kurmi Anil, et al., This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Introduction host trees were marked with white paint. Many species of hemipteran are mutualistically associated with ant species [1], as the latter benefits from association in terms of energy gain, which is Kusmi lac eco-system thought to result in higher colony growth rates [2]. Ants often act as guard and Kusmi lac production is an integral component in 5 different villages viz., decrease the impact of predators and on the survival of the tended Paliyapipariya, Vijanyi, Junehta, Dangarhai and Padao of Block Bankhedi [Table- insects [3,4]. Mutually, ant-tended hemipterans may benefit from the removal of 1]. their honeydew, which reduce their mortality risk caused by fungal attack [5]. Ants belong to the family Formicidae, super family Vespoidea, order of Table-1. Cropping pattern, soil type and irrigation source in Kusmi lac eco-system class Insecta. Madhya Pradesh is the third largest lac producer in the country [6]. in the study villages Lac insect Kerria lacca (Kerr) is also being a phloem feeder, excrete large quantity Lac production Soil S. No. Village Irrigation of honeydew during its growth stages [7], which attracts many ants in the lac eco- system type systems [8]. Ant in lac eco-systems of M.P. is an unexplored field. 1 Paliyapipariya Anar + S. oleosa Sandy Irrigated 2 Vijanyi Rice + S. oleosa Sandy Rainfed Materials and Methods 3 Junehta Forest+ S. oleosa Sandy Rainfed 4 Dangarhai Forest+ S. oleosa Sandy Rainfed The experiment was conducted in Kusmi lac eco-system and Rangeeni lac eco- 5 Padao Forest+ S. oleosa Sandy Rainfed system. Kusmi lac produced on oleosa (Lour.) tree in Block Bankhedi, District Hoshangabad and Rangeeni lac on (Lam.) and Rangeeni lac eco-system Zizyphus mauritiana Lam. trees in Barghat block, District Seoni, Madhya Pradesh. In Block Barghat Rangeeni, lac is produced on both B. monosperma and Z. Collection of ants species were carried out in all the three types of lac production mauritiana. In Dhulapur, Gangeruwa, Dhapara, Amurla and Panwas villages lac systems at fortnightly interval from December’ 2013 to April’ 2014. Ants were was produced on Z. mauritiana while in Panwastola, Ankhiwada, Chotidharana, collected from the lac encrusted trunk of the host tree. The main trunk of the lac Badidharana and Ponarkala villages it was on B. monosperma tree [Table-2].

Table-2 Cropping pattern, soil type and irrigation source in Rangeeni lac eco-system in the study villages S. No. Village Lac production system Soil type Irrigation 1 Dhulapur Rice + Wheat + Z. mauritiana Black Irrigated 2 Gangeruwa Rice + Z. mauritiana Black Rainfed 3 Dhapara Rice + Z. mauritiana Black Rainfed 4 Amurla Rice + Z. mauritiana Black Rainfed 5 Panwas Rice + Wheat + Z. mauritiana Black Irrigated 6 Panwastola Rice + B. monosperma Black Rainfed 7 Ankhiwada Rice + B. monosperma Light Rainfed 8 Chotidharana No crop only B. monosperma Light Rainfed 9 Badidharana No crop only B. monosperma Light Rainfed 10 Ponarkala Rice + B. monosperma Light Rainfed

International Journal of Agriculture Sciences || Bioinfo Publications || ISSN:0975-3710 & E-ISSN:0975-9107, Volume 7, Issue 15, 2015 915

Lac Insect Associated Ants and Their Distribution in Lac Eco-Systems of Madhya Pradesh

Ants collection Kusmi lac eco-systems in block Bankhedi Collection of ants species were carried out from all the three types of lac In Kusmi lac eco-systems, the seven species of ants recorded were O. production systems at fortnightly interval from December’ 2013 to April’ 2014 .Ants smaragdina, T. melanocephalum, P.longicorni, C. travencorensis, M. destructor, moving on the Lac encrusted branches of the trees were carefully collected with C. obscurior and L. frauenfeldi. Among these, O. smaragdina was predominant the help of zero number paint brush. The brush carrying ants was dipped in vials ant species found in all the five villages filled with formalin (4%) solution to remove the ants from the brush. The vials were then sealed and labeled with location, tree serial number and date of collection, Table-3 List of ants species recorded in different lac eco-systems before preserving it. The ant samples were sent to Zoological Survey of India, S. No. Name of Species Sub-family West Bengal for identification. 1 Oecophylla smaragdina (Fab.) Formicinae 2 Lepisiota frauenfeld i(Mayr) Formicinae 3 Camponotu scompressusFab. Formicinae Results and Discussion: 4 Camponotus sericeusFab. Formicinae Lac Insect associated Ant species in three prominent lac eco-systems 5 Paratrechina longicornis (Latr.) Formicinae Eleven ant species were found associated with lac insect belonged to 4 sub- 6 Crematogaster travencorensis Forel families and 9 genera of family Formicidae in lac eco-systems in two blocks 7 Monomorium destructor Jerdon Myrmicinae (Barghat and Bankhedi) of the two districts (Seoni and Hoshangabad). Formicinae 8 Cardiocondyla obscurior Wheeler Myrmicinae was the predominant sub-family represented by five ants species followed by 9 Tetraponeraru fonigra(Jerdon) Pseudomyrmicinae 10 nigra (Jerdon) Pseudomyrmicinae Myrmicinae with three ants species and Pesudomyrmicinae with two species. 11 Tapinoma melanocephalum (Fab.) Dolichoderinae Dolichoderinae was represented by a single ant species [Table-3]. It was followed by T. melanocephalum recorded in three villages, while P. longicornis were found in two and C. travencorensis M. destructor and C. Distribution of Lac Insect associated Ant species in three prominent lac eco- obscurior was only found in village Paliyapiparyia and L. frauenfeldi was only in systems village Vijanyi [Table-4].

Table-4 Ant species in Kusmi lac eco-system block Bankhedi Kusmi lac producing Villages Ant species Paliyapipariya Vijanyi Junehta Dangarhai Padao O. smaragdina 1 1 1 1 1 T. melanocephalum 1 1 - - 1 P. longicornis 1 1 - - - C. travancoreni 1 - - - - M. destructor 1 - - - - C. obuscurior 1 - - - - L.frauenfeldi - 1 - - - Where, ‘1’= Present, ‘-’ = Absent

Z. mauritiana based Rangeeni lac eco-systems in block Barghat were found in Rangeeni lac eco-system on host Z. mauritiana were recorded from In Z. mauritiana based Rangeeni lac eco-system six species of ants recorded Dhulapur, Gangeruwa, Dhapara and Amurla. O. smaragdina was found in villages were C. compressus, C. sericeus, O. smaragdina, T. melanocephalum, T. Dhulapur and Panwas while T. melanocephalum only in Dhulapur. T. nigra was nigraand T. rufonigra. The two ant species viz., C. compressus and C. sericeus found in village Panwas and T. rufonigra was recorded in Amurla [Table-5].

Table-5 Ant species in Z. mauritiana based Rangeeni lac eco-systems block Barghat Z. mauritiana based Rangeeni lac producing Villages Ant species Dhulapur Gangeruwa Dhapara Amurla Panwas C.compressus 1 1 1 1 - C. sericeus 1 1 1 1 - O. smaragdina 1 - - - 1 T. melanocephalum 1 - - - - T. nigra - - - - 1 T. rufonigra - - - 1 -

B. monosperma based Rangeeni lac eco-system in block Barghat and found in three villages viz., Ankhiwada, Chotidharana and Badidharana while In B. monosperma based Rangeeni lac eco-system, five species of ants recorded L. frauenfeldi, C. compressus and C. sericeus were found in villages Chotidharna were T. melanocephalum, L. frauenfeldi, C. compressus, C. sericeus, and O. and Badidharana. While O. smaragdina found only in village Ankhiwada. No ant smaragdina. T. melanocephalum was predominant ant species species was recorded from Panwastola and Ponarkala [Table-6].

Table-6 Ant species in B. monosperma based Rangeeni lac eco-system block Barghat B. monosperma based Rangeeni lac producing Villages Ant species Panwastola Ankhiwada Chotidharana Badidharana Ponarkala T. melanocephalum - 1 1 1 - L. frauenfeldi - - 1 1 C. compressus - - 1 1 - C. sericeus - - 1 1 - O. smaragdina - 1 - - -

International Journal of Agriculture Sciences || Bioinfo Publications || ISSN:0975-3710 & E-ISSN:0975-9107, Volume 7, Issue 15, 2015 916

Kurmi Anil, Thomas M., Namdev B.K., Sheela S. and Pachori R.

Most of homoptera secretes large amount of honeydew. Many species of ants mutualistically associated with homopteran insects [1]. Lac insect secretes excessive amount of honeydew during its growth stages [7]. Honeydew falling on the leaves develop sooty mould. Sooty mould affected leaves and branches are common on lac insect infested host tree. Large numbers of ants on the lac settlement is also reported by [8]. Twenty-six species of ants associated with aphid, belonging to twelve genera were collected by [9] represented by three sub- families but Formicinae had highest representation. Similarly [10] also reported 30 ants species of the Formicinae, Myrmicinae, Dolichoderinae and Ponerinae subfamilies associated with 12 homopteran of the Coccidae, Pseudococcidae, Aphididae, Ortheziidae Aethalionidae and Membracidae families in coffee plantations of Cenicafe. Oecophylla smaragdina and Anonychomyrmagilberti were highly dominant in terms of territorial behavior as well as abundance and monopolised large aggregations of honeydew-producing homopterans [11] and have reported 17 species of ants in lac eco-system viz., Camponotus compressus, C. dichrous, C. parius, Crematogaster subnuda, Lepisiota capensis, Leptogeny sdiminuta, Lophomyrmex quadrispinosus, Monomorium rubriceps, Myrmicaria brunnea, Oecophylla smaragdina, Pachycondyla tesseronoda, Paratrechina longicornis, Pheidole indica, Pheidologe tonaffinis, Tapinoma indicum, Tetraponera allaborans and T. rufonigra. Similarly ants species, belonging to 34 species, 23 genera and 5 sub-families of Formicidae from lac eco-systems in China [7]. In contrast of the present finding of 11 ants species, [8] reported 17 ant species in lac eco-system, of these four ant species are common in Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.

Conclusion Eleven ant species were found associated with lac insect belong to 4 sub-families and 9 genera of family Formicidae in lac eco-systems of M.P. The species richness differed in different lac eco-system. Kusmi lac strain was more tended by ants species than Rangeeni lac strain. Richness of ants species was also differed according different production system and availability of irrigation. Highest number of ants species was observed in multi crop production area in irrigated condition a followed by forest and mono crop area in rainfed condition.

Acknowledgement The authors are thankful to the lac growers in Bankhedi and Barghat blocks for their cooperation. The authors express their grateful to Zoological Survey of India, West Bengal for their valuable help.

Conflict of Interest: None declared

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