A. Dejean et al., ANT MOSAIC IN OIL PALM PLANTATIONS OF THE SOUTHWEST PROVINCE OF CAMEROON - IMPACT ON LEAF MINER BEETLE (COLEOPTERA, CHRYSOMELIDAE), Journal of economic entomology, 90(5), 1997, pp. 1092-1096
A study was conducted to determine the distribution of ants in the cro
wns of oil palms on 2 plantations (Mpundu and Mondoni) in southwest Ca
meroon (a total of 615 oil palms). Six dominant species [Crematogaster
gabonensis (Emery), Tetramorium aculeatum (Mayr), Oecophylla longinod
a (Latreille), Monomorium sp., Pheidole megacephala (F.), and Paratrec
hina sp.] were distributed in a mosaic pattern. C. gabonensis was the
most frequent ant species in Mpundu (86% of the oil palms), whereas in
Mondoni it was in competition with T. aculeatum (45.8% of the oil pal
ms of the 6 parcels of land) and was recorded at a lower rate (51.1%).
On 3 parcels in Mondoni, T. aculeatum was the most frequent; whereas
on 2 others, C. gabonensis was the most frequent, and in the last parc
el these 2 species were evenly distributed. Therefore, oil palm planta
tions shelter dominant ant mosaics as do plantations of other trees of
economic interest and tropical forests. The percentages of oil palms
occupied by one or the other of the 2 most frequent dominant ants reco
rded in 12 parcels were compared with the rate of attack by Coelaemeno
dera minuta Uhmann. Low rates of attack by the hispine beetle were rec
orded for parcels where the percentages of oil palms occupied by C. ga
bonensis were high; the opposite was true for parcels where the percen
tages of oil palms occupied by T. aculeatum were high.