ASIAN
MYRMECOLOGY

Asian Myrmecology, Volume 8, pages 17-48, published December 2016
DOI: 10.20362/am.008019
article first published online: 08/September/2016

A Checklist of known ant species of Laos (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

WEEYAWAT JAITRONG¹, BENOIT GUÉNARD², EVAN P. ECONOMO³, NOPPARAT BUDDHAKALA⁴ & SEIKI YAMANE^5*

Abstract:

Laos is one of the most undersampled areas for ant biodiversity. We begin to address this knowledge gap by presenting the first checklist of Laotian ants. The list is based on a literature review and on specimens collected from several localities in Laos. In total, 123 species with three additional subspecies in 47 genera belonging to nine subfamilies are listed, including 62 species recorded for the first time in the country. Comparisons with neighboring countries suggest that this list is still very incomplete. The provincial distribution of ants within Laos also show that most species recorded are from Vientiane Province, the central part of Laos while the majority of other provinces have received very little, if any, ant sampling. Many ant specimens collected from Laos are awaiting identification and future collections should provide many new species records.

Keywords:

Formicidae, ants, checklist, new records, Laos

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¹Thailand Natural History Museum, National Science Museum, Technopolis, Khlong 5, Khlong Luang, Pathum Thani, 12120 Thailand

²School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong Kong, China

³Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan

⁴Biology Divisions, Faculty of Science and Technology, Rajamangala University of Technology Tanyaburi, Pathum Thani 12120 Thailand

⁵Kagoshima University Museum, Korimoto 1-21-30, Kagoshima-shi, 890-0065 Japan

*Corresponding author: mayiopa0@gmail.com