We hypothetized that termitaries of Cubitermes with their alveolate st
ructure might constitute good shelters for ant colonies. We tested thi
s hypothesis in 10 forests of southern Cameroon where we assessed a de
nsity of 124.48 +/- 13.6 Cubitermes fungifaber and C. banksi termitari
es (both active and abandoned) per ha. Our work was undertaken on 725
termitaries among which we distinguished three groups: active, vertica
l (358); abandoned, vertical (220); and fallen abandoned (147). The ra
te of termitaries sheltering ant societies is higher for those which a
re abandoned (92.5% for fallen ones; 83.6% for vertical ones) than for
chose which are active (43.8%). We recorded 799 ant societies belongi
ng to 37 genera and 151 species, of which 11 are undescribed. We found
up to six ant colonies per termitary. These termitaries, which are fr
equent in the understory, thus proved to be good shelters for ant soci
eties. Moreover, this represents one of the highest levels of diversit
y of ants ever recorded, although these termitaries correspond to a li
mited area in comparison co that represented by the soil and leaf litt
er, rotten wood lying on the ground, or trees trunks and canopy. These
results imply that in the rain forest the scarcity of nesting sites i
s one of the principal factors limiting the populations of ground-dwel
ling ants. The termitaries sampled also sheltered 103 incipient ant co
lonies (12.9% of the total number of societies) which belong principal
ly to the Formicinae (71.7% of the societies of Formicinae recorded we
re incipient; 4.3% for the Ponerinae; 5.9% for the Myrmicinae and 0% f
or the Cerapachyinae and the Dolichoderinae). Depending on the subfami
ly, the Cubitennes termitaries are used as shelter only during foundat
ion (Formicinae) or during che entire life cycle (ocher subfamilies).