BIODIVERSITY OF ANTS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO APHID, A PHIS GOSSYPII GLOVER ON EGG PLANT, SOLANUM MELONGENA LOCAL VAR. BARAHMASIKA

Studies on the biodiversity of ants tending on A. gossypli G lover were carried out on brinjal during 2000 and 2001. 19 species of aphidocolous ants under 8 genera belonging to 3 sub families were observed to be associated with the aphid indicating high ant-aphid mutualism on the host plant. Most of the species belonging to the sub family Myrrnicinae (12 species) being followed by Dolichoderinae (4 species) and Formicinae (3 species) respectively. Among the aphid tending ants. Tapinotna indicurn Forel was the predominant one. Moreover, the peak population of ants (31.33 and 5.55 ants/sample) were observed during April and it coincided with the period of maximum abundance of the aphids (228.02 and 168.07 aphid/sample) showing significant con-elation between them (r = 0.70; 0.86). The ant incidence percentage as well as ant-aphid ratio were also worked out during the period of study.