Ant Fauna and Species Diversity of Tibet

From 1889 to 2020, foreign and domestic myrmecologists actually recorded 5 subfamilies, 22 genera and 54 species of ants in Tibet. In this study, totally 183 species belonging to 10 subfamilies and 57 genera were recognized, extra 5 subfamilies, 35 genera and 129 species were supplemented comparing to predecessors’ surveys, the new record subfamilies are Amblyoponinae, Ectatomminae, Dorylinae, Leptanillinae and Pseudomyrmecinae, which significantly enriched the ant fauna research of Tibet. The ant fauna of Tibet is a mixture of Palearctic and Oriental components, with Oriental component in predominant and Palearctic compoment relatively poor, and has definite relationship with other zoogeographical regions. At genera level, the relationship with other zoogeographical regions is successively Australian, Afrotropical, Neotropical and Nearctic. At species level, the relationship with other zoogeographical regions is successively Australian, Nearctic, Afrotropical and Neotropical. Ant species diversity is mainly controlled by air temperature and rainfall. Ant species richness increases with latitude decreasing and air temperature increasing from north to south. Ant species richness increases with longitude increasing and rainfall increasing from west to east. Based on vertical distribution information of Palearctic and Oriental species of Tibet, we proposed altitude 2750 m contour line as boundary division standard for the Palearctic and Oriental regions on south slope of Mt. Himalaya and in Southeast Tibet, which provided a reference foundation for the zoogeographical division of China. Vertical distribution of Formica candida Smith reached 5183 m, it is the highest record for ant vertical distribution in the world up to date.