Two new localities of Sri Lankan Relict Ant Aneuretus simoni Emery, 1893 (Formicidae: Aneuretinae) with the very first record in the intermediate zone

Abstract

Acknowledgements: Authors thank Forest Department of Sri Lanka (permit no. R&E/RES/NFSRC/11) and Department of Wildlife Conservation (permit no. WL/3/2/1/7) for permitting access and specimens collection from the Knuckles Forest Reserve; to Divisional Secretary, Panwila for granting permission to work in Moraella forest (permit no. PV/A/5/3/01/II). We are grateful to Prof. J.P. Edirisinghe for accommodating us with their field visits. We thank Mr. M.P. Ranaweera for guiding us in Moraella forest, and Mr. N. Wijayathilaka for photographing specimens. Dr. A.S.T.B. Wijetunga is acknowledged for his clarification on the vegetation types of the selected habitats. Field assistance given by P.G.

Species assemblages and diversity of litter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) along an altitudinal gradient across two vegetation types in Hanthana Forest in Kandy, Sri Lanka

“…However, the present study failed to spot the Sri Lankan relict ant, Aneuretus simony, a twig nesting species recorded by Wilson et al (1956) from Peradeniya and Kandy. Karunarathna and Karunaratne (2013) recorded this species from a wet zone forest, Moraella and an intermediate zone forest in Knuckles Forest Reserve. Figure 1 gives the accumulation of ant species by the two collecting methods.…”

Nest density dynamics and worker occurrence of Aneuretus simoni Emery, 1893 (Formicidae: Aneuretinae) and associated ant taxa in a Forest Reserve in Kegalle District, Sri Lanka

“…The mean annual rainfall of Lenagala Forest Reserve, 2000-4000 mm lies within the range recorded by Jayasuriya and Traniello [1985] and that of its other habitats mentioned earlier. The range of elevation recorded for the species was 57 m [Dias, Udayakantha, 2016] to 592 m [Karunarathna, Karunaratne, 2013] and both Locality A (255 m) and Locality B (280 m) of Lenagala Forest Reserve are located within that range.…”

The Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Sri Lanka: a taxonomic research summary and updated checklist

“…Distribution. Wet and Intermediate Zones; Primary literature records : Kandy ( Emery 1893a : 242), Ceylon ( Emery 1893b : cclxxvi), Ceylon ( Forel 1895a : 462), Ceylon ( Forel 1912a : 771), Ceylon ( Forel 1913a : 88), Kandy, Peradeniya, Adam’s Peak Forest Reserves, Gilimale, Ratnapura ( Wilson et al 1956 : 95), Gilimale ( Jayasuriya and Traniello 1985 : 366), Sri Lanka ( Traniello and Jayasuriya 1985 : 376), Sri Lanka ( Shattuck 1994 : 1), Ratnapura ( Dias 2006a : 45), Sinharaja Forest Reserve ( Gunawardene et al 2008 : 79), Gilimale Forest Reserve ( Dias and Perera 2011 : 73), Kirikanda ( Dias et al 2011 : 99), Sinharaja Forest Reserve ( Gunawardene et al 2012 : 84), Kirikanda Forest ( Dias et al 2013 : 64), Moraella, Rambukoluwa ( Karunarathna and Karunaratne 2013 : 4606), Sri Lanka ( Dias 2014 : 58), Kalugala Proposed Forest Reserve, Kuluna Kanda Proposed Forest Reserve, Wilpita “Aranya Kele” ( Dias and Ruchirani 2014 : 88), Meethirigala Forest Reserve ( Udayakantha and Dias 2015 : 31), Colombo, Galle, Gampaha, Ratnapura, Kalutara ( Dias and Rajapaksa 2016 : 33, 38), Meethirigala Forest Reserve ( Dias and Udayakantha 2016a : 53), Indikada Mukalana Forest Reserve ( Dias and Udayakantha 2016b : 5), Indikada Mukalana Forest Reserve ( Udayakantha and Dias 2018 : 68); Secondary literature records : Ceylon ( Emery 1913 : 7), Ceylon ( Chapman and Capco 1951 : 181), Sri Lanka ( Dias 2002 : 19), Sri Lanka ( Dias 2006b : 8), Sri Lanka ( Dias et al 2012 : 15), Sri Lanka ( Boudinot 2015 : 17); AntWeb records : Kandy, Sinharaja Forest Reserve, Sabaragamuwa, Gilimale: ANTWEB 1008503, CASENT 0007014 , CASENT 0010853 , CASENT 0102369 , CASENT 0102370 , CASENT 0172258 –2259, CASENT 0637363 , CASENT 0905041 ( AntWeb 2020 ).…”