THE RAINFOREST ANT FAUNA OF THE NORTHERN KIMBERLEY REGION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE)

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Abstract
This paper documents the ant species collected during a survey of 16 rainforest patches in the northern Kimberley region in the seasonal tropics, and compares this fauna with those of other regions in Australia. A total of 138 species from 36 genera were collected, with the richest genera being Monomorium (18 species), Pheidole (16), Polyrhachis (15), Iridomyrmex (12), Paratrechina (9), Camponotus (8) and Meranoplus (6). The most frequently recorded species were Oecophylla smaragdina, Monomorium sp., Tetramorium (“Triglypothrix”) ?lanuginosum, Paratrechina “minutula”, Polyrhachis “inconspicua” and Tapinoma sp. About half of the species collected have Torresian affinities, which, based on data from the Kakadu region, is far higher than in the surrounding savanna. Some of these Torresian species represent specialist rainforest taxa (notably tree‐nesting Oecophylla, Crematogaster and Polyrhachis spp. and some cryptic ponerines and myrmicines) that are of considerable biogeographical significance, but most belong to taxa that are widespread in sclerophyll habitats in northwestern Australia. None of the many tropical genera previously only known in Australia from Queensland rainforests were recorded. A further 41% of the total species belong to taxa that are widely distributed throughout Australia. The Kimberley rainforest fauna therefore consists primarily of unspecialised taxa, presumably derived from surrounding habitats.