Diversity of pit building antlions (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) and their potential preys in the sudano Guinean zone of Cameroon
Leonard Simon Tinkeu Ngamo, Jean Maogé, Koda Thomas
In Ngaoundere, within the sudano Guinean highlands, during dry season, some xerophilous insects are abundant. These insect may play a role as bio indicator to characterize the global warming. The present investigation in among preliminary steps to identify insects adapted to survive in dry season and some environmental factors impacting their presence. Using pit builder ant lions as model, the present research pointed out that 4 pit builder ant lions species occurred in the studied area: Myrmeleon quinquemaculatus (Hagen, 1853), Myrmeleon obscurus (Rambur, 1842), Hagenomyia tristis (Walker, 1853) and Myrmeleon sp. The most abundant specie was H. tristis representing 60.34% of the adults emerging from larvae collected and reared. These larvae are abundant when the weather is hot and dry and also when the day length increases. Use of pit fall trap to investigate potential prey of these sit and wait predators released that among the terrestrial fauna, the ant Myrmicaria opaciventris (Emery, 1893) is the main potential prey of ant lion larvae representing 40% of the overall preys trapped.
Leonard Simon Tinkeu Ngamo, Jean Maogé, Koda Thomas. Diversity of pit building antlions (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) and their potential preys in the sudano Guinean zone of Cameroon. J Entomol Zool Stud 2016;4(1):198-202.