The ant fauna and its seasonality in farm lands on Okinawa [Japan] Island
2009
Kurima, M., Okinawa-ken. Agricultural Research Center, Itoman (Japan) | Kawamura, F. | Tsuji, K.
As a first step for the biological control of pest insects using ants we surveyed the ant fauna and its seasonality on seven farm lands, six of which were greenhouses, in the southern part of Okinawa Island. Cultivated plants were dragon fruits, eggplants, bitter gourds, green peppers and sugarcanes. Ants were collected using pitfall traps every 2 month (with some exception) throughout 2006. Regardless of inside or outside the greenhouses ants were less active and less abundant in the low temperature period from January to March, whereas they were abundant and seemingly active in the high temperature period from May to October. The ant species composition did not differ very much by cultivated plant species. Four species (Tetramorium bicarinatum, Monomorium chinense, Pheidole fervens and P. parva) were most common in those fields, which implies that these four species can have the highest potential as the biological-control agents in the warm season in Okinawa, on one hand. On the other hand, a large portion of those dominant ants consists of exotic tramps species, therefore their risk of biological invasion should be also carefully estimated before using them as control agents.
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