A preliminary survey of the ant fauna of the Darling Plateau and Swan Coastal Plain near Perth, Western Australia

Abstract

Sixty-eight ant species in 22 genera were collected by pitfall traps and hand sampling made along 2 transects, one north and one south of Perth, running across the Coastal Plain and on to the Darling Plateau. Six vegetation associations were represented along each transect. There were no trends in species richness, diversity or evenness across the transects although overall species composition differed between certain vegetation associations. These differences are discussed in terms of soil type and vegetation association and the results are compared with those from a similar study in the Queensland sub-tropics.