The ant assemblage found in thorns of Acacia karroo Hayne was examined along the Great Fish River, in the Andries Vosloo Kudo Reserve, South Africa. A. karroo is the most widespread of South Africa's acacias and has been undergoing a recent expansion in its distribution and abundance. The ants inhabiting the relatively slender spines of this plant, in contrast to a number of better-studied swollen thorn acacias and their associated ants, have not been systematically investigated. Thorns were sampled from 14 A. karroo patches in June of 2002. A total of 581 thorns with holes, as ants were only found in stipules with obvious entrance holes in an initial survey, were examined. Nests of Tetraponera sp.A and Tapinoma sp.A were common, with each species inhabiting over 20% of the thorns examined. Cataulacus sp.A was also regularly encountered but at a low frequency. A single nest of Tetraponera sp. B and two Leptothorax stramineus nests were also sampled. Overall, half the thorns with holes that were examined were occupied by ants. Patch size was found to have no association with the overall percentage of thorns occupied by ants.
Keywords: ant ecology
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