CONTRIBUTION TO THE CURRENT KNOWLEDGE OF ANT COMMUNITIES (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) IN A XEROPHITIC SCRUBLAND OF SOUTHEAST DURANGO, DURANGO

In order to assess the species richness and diversity of ants in a xerophitic scrubland, a total of three areas were monitored in the Southeast of Durango within the municipalities of Nombre de Dios and Durango. Specific richness, relative abundance as well as Shannon’s, Simpson’s and Pielou’s indices of the ant community were obtained. A total of 19 species from 15 genera within four subfamilies were collected: Myrmicinae, Formicinae, Pseudomyrmicinae and Dolichoderinae. The subfamily with the greatest species richness was Myrmicinae (seven species), while Pseudomyrmicinae had the lowest richness with only two species. Dolichoderinae showed the highest relative abundance (76.5% of the total sample). Four new records of two genera were obtained for the State: Carebara and Linepithema and two species: Atta texana and Myrmecocystus mendax. Shannon’s diversity index reached H’ = 1.36, Pielou’s evenness index was J’ = 0.46 and Simpson’s index was λ = 0.38. Further targeted studies are required with different sampling techniques in order to obtain a more detailed listing of ants and increase our knowledge on this group of insects in the study region, which shows high diversity potential.