The Ant Fauna of Danggali Conservation Park in Semi‐arid South Australia: a Comparison with Wyperfeld (Vic.) and Cape Arid (W.A.) National Parks

We describe the ant fauna of Danggali Conservation Park (250 mm mean annual rainfall) in eastern South Australia, and, by comparing it with the previously published faunas of Wyperfeld National Park (400 mm) in northwestern Victoria and Cape Arid National Park (375‐575 mm) in southwestern Western Australia, present an overview of the fauna of semi‐arid southern Australia. At Danggali, ants were sampled by a total of 1,160 pitfall traps, located within 18 1‐km 2 plots distributed across the Park to cover a broad range of habitats and fire histories. A total of 248 species from 32 genera were collected, with the richest genera being Camponotus (51 species), Melophorus (37), Iridomyrmex (29), and Monomorium (24). Overall generic composition was very similar to that at both Wyperfeld and Cape Arid, but the representation of Bassian species‐groups was substantially lower at Danggali (19% of total species) than at either Wyperfeld (35%) or Cape Arid (30%), and this was offset by a higher contribution by Eyrean taxa (39% at Danggali, compared with 30% at Wyperfeld and 28% at Cape Arid). Ten genera or species‐groups were recorded at Danggali but at neither Wyperfeld or Cape Arid; four of these have Eyrean distributions (the tyloxys group of Rhytidoponera , the agilis and viridigaster groups of Iridomyrmex , and the aeneovirens group of Melophorus ), and four are Torresian taxa ( Anochetus, Odontomachus, Calomyrmex , and Polyrhachis gravis group). The functional group profiles of the three faunas are very similar, particularly with respect to Dominant Dolichoderinae (10‐12% of total species), Subordinate Camponotini (20‐25%), Opportunists (8‐10%) and Generalised Myrmicinae (10‐11%). Altogether, about 440 species have been recorded from the three locations.