Abstract / Introduction / Summary:
Ant fauna was studied in Myoenji Chuo Park, located in a housing complex and recently invaded by the alien ant Technomyrmex brunneus, Hioki-shi, Kagoshima-ken, southern Japan. The survey was conducted in six different types of habitats (open space around fountain, forest of Quercus acutissima, trivial woods forest, promenade in evergreen forest, shrubbery around tennis court, evergreen forest). In total 36 species belonging to 22 genera in 5 subfamilies were collected using manual collecting, honey bait trapping and leaf litter-soil sifting. This figure corresponds to around 33.7% of the total species number (around 110) so far known from mainland Kagoshima. Among the 36 ant species, seven (18.9%) were considered to be alien. Dominant species was measured by the frequency of occurrence at honey baits. The most dominant species was Pheidole nodus (0.70), followed by Nylanderia flavipes (0.37) and Formica hayashi (0.31). The status of T. brunneus was the fifth of the 22 species attracted to honey baits. Nylanderia amia (alien) and Cardiocondyla obscurior (probably alien) were not collected by honey bait trapping. The record of C. obscurior in the present study represents its northern limit in mainland Japan. The famous alien Technomyrmex brunneus was collected in 5 habitat types except for the forest of Q. acutissima. However, its density was not high in any of the habitat types. In the near future this ant will extend its range and increase density in the park, and would cause a bad influence on the insect fauna there.
