Colony composition and nesting habits of six species of Aphaenogaster in Thailand (Hymenoptera; Formicidae)

Aphaenogaster ants are known as predators and seed dispersers in temperate forests. The biological information of tropical Aphaenogaster, however, is still limited. We investigated the nesting habits and colony composition of six Aphaenogaster species in Thailand. All six species inhabiting several types of tropical forest nested in the soil of slopes nearby a forest path. In addition, sp. 3 nested under a stone and sp. 4 nests were found under leaf litter and in the rotten wood on the forest floor. The nest structure was simple with only one chamber. The depth of the nest was shallow, approximately 20-30 cm from the soil surface. The average number of workers per colony varied among species, from 37 in sp. 6 to 244 in sp. 1. In each colony of the five species, only one mated queen with active ovaries was found. These characteristics were compared to temperate Aphaenogaster species. © Sunittra Aupanun, Jiraporn Kulsarin, Weeyawat Jaitrong and Fuminori Ito.