2021/01/01 by Karma Chorten Dendup, Cheten Dorji, Tarun Dhadwal +2
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior #Plant and animal studies #Lepidoptera: Biology and Taxonomy
paper · doi:10.20362/am.014005
Current knowledge on the ant fauna of Bhutan is poor, 55 species of Formicidae belonging to 20 genera are listed in various online databases. As result from a detailed study along an elevational gradient in the south of the country we report about 51 species and 21 genera new to the species list of Bhutan. In our study in Mendrelgang gewog of Tsirang district, ants were collected for one month during the month of January (2019) using the methods of baiting, Winkler extraction of leaf litter and hand picking aided by aspirator. This work brings the total number of the known ant fauna of Bhutan to 103 species and 39 genera. The number of new discoveries is expected to increase in future, since many of the high biodiversity areas of the country are still unexplored.