摘要：This is the preliminary study of habitat and seasonal diversity of ants in protected area of Mukurthi National Park. The study was conducted during February 2011 to January 2012. Ant samples were collected from the study area using pitfall traps, bait trap, hand picking method, soil and litter extraction from five different plots of the study area. The plots were divided according to their vegetation types namely shola forest, grassland, wattle plantation, pine and tea plantations. The seasonal patterns changes were observed in four different seasons are dry, premonsoon, southwest monsoon and wet season. In the current study we obtained about 58 species belonging to five subfamilies namely Dolichoderinae, Formicinae, Myrmicinae, Pseudomyrmicinae and Ponerinae. The results concluded that the ants are the indicators of the habitat as well as seasonal changes. The patterns of ant composition shows the dissimilarity between natural grassland, shola forest and monoculture plantations. The seasonal diversity changes reveal the Pre-monsoon (March- May) South West monsoon seasons (June-August) are highly preferred by most of the ant species in Mukurthi National Park
关键词：Habitat diversity; Seasonal diversity; Mukurthi National Park and Formicidae
