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392 C. M. Naik et al.

up with silk or several overlapping leaflets spun

together.

The other species of ants, D. rugosum and

C. wroughtonii nests were recorded, whether

arboreal or on the ground. Ground nests, which

sometimes occurred abundantly in a thick layer

of cashew leaves and close to the trunks of trees,

were observed on borders of plantation near

bunds and roads. The activity of ants on cashew

trees sprayed with insecticides was low, and few

or no ants were observed on such trees. It was

abundant (++++) to very abundant (+++++) in

non-sprayed plantations. Among the different ant

species recorded in cashew plantations, O. sma-

ragdina appeared to be a predominant arboreal

ant in cashew plantations at both the locations

observed.

Predatory ant, O. smaragdina workers cap-

tured insect preys and carried them away to the

nests by operating singly or in groups. In the

study sites, the distribution of ant species indi-

cated that single species of O. smaragdina occu-

pied 80 % of the cashew plantation observed, and

was found to be very abundant (+++++) (> 1000

workers occupying a tree canopy of 15 m radius).

Cashew trees fully colonized by the predatory

ant O. smaragdina exhibited the least percent-

age damage 11.40 + 1.87 and 8.71 + 1.23 during

Table 1 Composition of ant species on cashew, Karnataka, South India

Location Coastal/maidan part Sub family Arboreal/ground Abundance Sprayed/unsprayed

Mundur D. rugosum Ponerinae Ground + Sprayed

Ullal O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal + Sprayed

Konaje O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal +++ Non-sprayed

Brahmavar O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal + Sprayed

Pethri O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal + Sprayed

Korgi O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal + Sprayed

Gujjadi O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal + Sprayed

Hebri O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal + Sprayed

O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal +++++ Non-sprayed

D. rugosum Ponerinae Ground + Non-sprayed

C. compresus Formicinae Ground + Non-sprayed

Crematogaster

wroughtonii (Forel)

Myrmicinae Arboreal + Non-sprayed

Belvai O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal +

Bantakal O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal +++++ Non-sprayed

O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal +++++ Non-sprayed

D. rugosum Ponerinae Ground + Non-sprayed

C. compresus Formicinae Ground + Non-sprayed

C. wroughtonii Myrmicinae Arboreal + Non-sprayed

Cherkadi O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal +

Kalanja C. compresus Formicinae Ground +

Guthiger O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal +

Savanur D. rugosum Ponirinae Ground +

Bellare O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal +

Kairapalli C. compresus Formicidae Ground +

O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal + Sprayed

Cherkadi O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal +

C. wroughtonii Myrmicinae Arboreal + Sprayed

ARS

Chintamani

O. smarigdina Formicinae Arboreal ++++ Non-sprayed

C. wroughtonii Myrmicinae Arboreal + Non-sprayed

Crematogaster sp Myrmicinae Arboreal + Non-sprayed

C. rothnyi (Mayer) Myrmicinae + Non-sprayed

+ very scarce; ++ very scarce; +++ less abundant; ++++ abundant; +++++ very abundant

AQ1