Survey of red weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) and their host plants in urban and rural habitats of Madurai District, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

The present study was undertaken a survey of host plants of red weaver ant in two different habitats such as rural and urban areas of Madurai (9.93°N, 78.12°E), Tamil Nadu during May, 2015- December, 2015. All out search method was used to list the occurrence of red weaver ant on plants and also counted the number of their nests on the host plants. The red weaver ants built their nests on 23 plant species in both rural and urban habitats, among these, thirteen plant species (range of nos. of nests 2 - 10) in urban and twenty two species (range of nos. of nests 5 - 15) in rural areas. The more number of nesting was noticed on Mangifera indica, whereas, less number of nesting was found to be in the host plants of Nerium odorum, Cocos nucifera L., Tamarindus indica etc. The highest relative abundance of nesting’s of red weaver ants were recorded during October, November and December 2015, whereas lowest during June, July and August 2015. The red weaver ants weaving the nest on some selected plants in both urban and rural habitats by establishing their colonies. The occurrence of nesting may due to the influence of environmental factors that would limit the growth and distribution of ants on its host plants. The present study indicates the existence of mutualistic interactions between plants and red weaver ants.