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Hymenoptera: Formicidae) ASIAN MYRMECOLOGY Volume 8, 17 – 48, 2016 ISSN 1985-1944 © Weeyawat Jaitrong, Benoit Guénard, Evan P. Economo, DOI: 10.20362/am.008019 Nopparat Buddhakala and Seiki Yamane A checklist of known ant species of Laos (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Weeyawat Jaitrong1, Benoit Guénard2, Evan P. Economo3, Nopparat Buddhakala4 and Seiki Yamane5* 1 Thailand Natural History Museum, National Science Museum, Technopolis, Khlong 5, Khlong Luang, Pathum Thani, 12120 Thailand E-mail: [email protected] 2 School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China 3 Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan 4 Biology Divisions, Faculty of Science and Technology, Rajamangala Univer- sity of Technology Tanyaburi, Pathum Thani 12120 Thailand E-mail: [email protected] 5 Kagoshima University Museum, Korimoto 1-21-30, Kagoshima-shi, 890-0065 Japan *Corresponding author’s email: [email protected] ABSTRACT. Laos is one of the most undersampled areas for ant biodiversity. We begin to address this knowledge gap by presenting the first checklist of Laotian ants. The list is based on a literature review and on specimens col- lected from several localities in Laos. In total, 123 species with three additional subspecies in 47 genera belonging to nine subfamilies are listed, including 62 species recorded for the first time in the country. Comparisons with neighboring countries suggest that this list is still very incomplete. The provincial distribu- tion of ants within Laos also show that most species recorded are from Vien- tiane Province, the central part of Laos while the majority of other provinces have received very little, if any, ant sampling. Many ant specimens collected from Laos are awaiting identification and future collections should provide many new species records. Keywords: Formicidae, ants, checklist, new records, Laos INTRODUCTION al. 2015), the ants of Laos are largely unknown. A recent global analysis of gaps in our knowl- Laos People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) is a edge of ant biodiversity identified Laos as one landlocked country located in Southeast Asia of the least known countries in the world (Gué- which borders China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cam- nard et al. 2012), thus placing it as a top priority bodia and Thailand. Although ant faunas are now for ant biodiversity research. Santschi (1920b) known to some extent in several areas in South- first reported 28 ant species from several locali- east Asia (e.g. China: Guénard & Dunn 2012; ties in this country. Over the following century, Vietnam: Eguchi et al. 2011; Thailand: Jaitrong only a few species of ants have been described & Nabhitabhata 2005; Cambodia: Hosoishi et al. and added in the country (e.g. Ward 2001; Dill 2013; Borneo: Pfeiffer et al. 2011; Yunnan: Liu et 2002; Roncin & Deharveng 2003; Bolton 2007; 2 - 19 - AM8 - A Checklist of known ant species of Laos.indd 17 09-Dec-16 3:13:56 PM 18 Weeyawat Jaitrong, Benoit Guénard, Evan P. Economo, Nopparat Buddhakala & Seiki Yamane Jaitrong et al. 2011; Yamane & Jaitrong 2011; Hosoishi & Ogata 2016). Furthermore, Dr. Stefan Jaitrong & Yamane 2013; Laciny et al. 2015; Ho- P. Cover of the Museum of Comparative Zool- soishi & Ogata 2016); and currently, only 61 spe- ogy, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. (MCZC) cies have been listed. kindly offered us records of specimens of some We sought to increase knowledge of the species collected by David Pick in Laos that were ant fauna in Laos by compiling data on ant geo- identified and managed by Dr. Cover. graphic distributions from a review of literature, Supposed biological species (not iden- and through new field surveys during 1997-2015. tified as known species) are not included in the With this material we present the first preliminary list. Species validity, spelling and authority have checklist of the known ant species from the coun- been checked in Bolton’s Synopsis of the Formi- try in order to encourage future research on ants cidae and Catalogue of Ants of the World (Bolton and biodiversity conservation in the region. 2015). The list is arranged alphabetically by sub- family, genus and species. Material examined and distributions are given for the listed species. MATERIALS AND METHODS The species previously recorded from Laos are marked with “*”. The checklist was assembled through literature/ data compilation, in addition to new field surveys. The data compilation included records from the RESULTS AND DISCUSSION GABI database, which includes data from over 8670 publications and other existing databases In the present paper, 123 named species and ad- (e.g. Antweb 2015), with species distribution ditional three subspecies are listed for 47 genera available for visualization through the website belonging to nine subfamilies from Laos (Table antmaps.org (Janicki et al. 2016). Separately, in- 1). Among them, 62 species are recorded for the formation given by other websites available (e.g. first time in the country. The most speciose sub- Antwiki) were also added here. family is the Myrmicinae with around 37 percent In addition, an extensive collection was of all genera and 30 percent of all species, fol- acquired from several localities in Laos which are lowed by Formicinae, Ponerinae, Dolichoderi- now deposited in the Natural History Museum of nae and Dorylinae respectively (see Table 1). National Science Museum, Thailand (THNHM) Worldwide, currently 16 subfamilies, 327 genera and Seiki Yamane’s Collection at Kitakyushu and 15,050 species are known in Formicidae, Museum of Natural History and Human His- excluding fossil taxa (Bolton, 2015). Thus, to tory, Japan (SKYC). Most specimens were col- date the record in Laos covers only 0.8 percent lected by Weeyawat Jaitrong and Seiki Yamane of all known ant species in the world, though this from two sites within Vientiane Province during may in part be a result of the incompleteness of May and June 2010. The first site was in Sivilay investigation. Our material contains many other Village (18ᵒ15/N, 102ᵒ27/E, ca. 200 m alt.), Nax- species identified only at the genus level; and aythong District, located approximately 20 km thus the number of species is likely to increase northwest of Vientiane City. The second site was once these are identified. The genera collected in Phang Dang Village (18ᵒ14/N, 103ᵒ01/E, ca. for which no species could be identified are: 500 m alt.), Pak Ngum District, approximately Aphaenogaster, Calyptomyrmex, Hypoponera, 30 km northeast of Vientiane City. Specimens Nylanderia, Paraparatrechina, Philidris, Pla- collected in various parts of the country by Mr. giolepis, Prenolepis, Pseudolasius, Rhopalomas- Haruo Fukuda and Dr. Yukino Ochiai were also tix, Strumigenys and Vollenhovia. As a result, 58 examined. The specimens were identified by W. genera have been recorded from Laos for now. Jaitrong and Sk. Yamane using identification Many other genera widespread in the region keys created for other Southeast Asian ants (e.g. (e.g. Acanthomyrmex, Buniapone, Chronox- Ward 2001; Bolton 2007; Eguchi 2008; Hosoi- enus, Cryptopone, Dilobocondyla, Discothyrea, shi & Ogata 2009a; Jaitrong & Yamane 2011; Emeryopone, Gauromyrmex, Gesomyrmex, Jaitrong et al. 2011; Schmidt & Shattuck 2014; Kartidris, Lepisiota, Leptanilla, Lordomyrma, 2 - 19 - AM8 - A Checklist of known ant species of Laos.indd 18 09-Dec-16 3:13:56 PM A Checklist of known ant species of Laos (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) 19 Table 1. Numbers and percentages of named species and genera recorded for each subfamily from Laos. Subfamilies No. of genera % No. of species % Amblyoponinae 1 2.2 1 0.8 Dolichoderinae 4 8.7 13 10.6 Dorylinae 3 6.5 10 8.1 Ectatomminae 1 2.2 2 1.6 Formicinae 7 15.2 33 26.8 Myrmicinae 17 37.0 37 30.0 Ponerinae 11 23.9 20 16.3 Proceratiinae 1 2.2 1 0.8 Pseudomyrmecinae 1 2.2 6 4.9 Total 46 100 123 100 Fig. 1. Known species diversity in the eighteen Laotian provinces: 1) Phongsali, 2) Luang Namtha, 3) Bokeo, 4) Oudomxay, 5) Luang Prabang, 6) Houaphan, 7) Sayabouly, 8) Vientiane capital & province, 9) Xaisomboun, 10) Xieng Khouang, 11) Bolikgamsai, 12) Khammouane, 13) Savannakhet, 14) Salavan, 15) Sekong, 16) Attapeu, 17) Champasak. 2 - 19 - AM8 - A Checklist of known ant species of Laos.indd 19 09-Dec-16 3:13:57 PM and collaborators 20 Weeyawat Jaitrong, Benoit Guénard, Evan P. Economo, Nopparat Buddhakala & Seiki Yamane Mesoponera, Myopias, Myrmecina, Myrmicaria, not been confirmed. For example, the common Myrmoteras, Mystrium, Parvaponera, Ponera, species, e.g. Monomorium chinense Santschi, Proatta, Proceratium, Simopone, Stigmatomma, 1925, Ectomomyrmex astuta (F. Smith, 1858) (= Syllophopsis, Vombisidris) are expected in Laos. Pachycondyla astuta), and Pheidole pieli Sants- The predicted final figure for Laos is between 64 chi, 1925, are recorded from China, Vietnam and and 78 genera, based on an earlier study by Gué- Thailand (Eguchi et al. 2005; Jaitrong & Nab- nard and collaborators. (2012). hitabhata 2005; Guénard & Dunn 2012), but not The most speciose and commonly en- from Laos. However, it is likely that this distribu- countered genera are Polyrhachis (19 species), tion gap exists due to incompleteness of sampling Camponotus (8), Aenictus (7), Crematogaster in the country. (7), Tetramorium (6), Dolichoderus (5), Tech- In the ant collections of THNHM and nomyrmex (5), Carebara (5), Pheidole (5) and SKYC, we recognized about 70 unidentified spe- Tetraponera (5). Together, the ten most diverse cies from Laos, some of which seem to be new genera include 59 percent of the known species to science; a new species of Calyptomyrmex will from Laos. Twenty-seven genera (59%) are so be described soon (Jaitrong & Yamane, in prep.). far represented in Laos by a single species. There Specimens of some genera, e.g., Nylanderia, Phi- are some genera with large numbers of Lao spe- lidris, Paraparatrechina, Hypoponera, Vollenho- cies (according to the specimens deposited in via and Strumigenys, have not yet been identified THNHM and SKYC), but most of these remain to species.
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