Abstract
With the aim of examining the ants and carabid beetles fauna associated to the soil of grasslands, scrublands, glens and primary forest at the National Natural Park Farallones de Cali piedmont, Colombia leaf litter sifting samplings using the Winkler sac extraction method were carried out. Both, richness and abundance were evaluated and an analysis of indicator species for the ants group was done. A total of 4524 ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) belonging to 89 species and 30 carabids (Coleoptera: Carabidae) from four species were found. Forest was the most diverse and richest habitat (55 species) followed by glen (44 spp.), scrubland (43 spp.) and pasture (19 spp.) with a similar trend for Carabidae (2, 3, 2 and 0 species, respectively). The most abundant ant species was Wasmannia auropunctata, while for carabidae it was Notiobia sp. Eleven ant species could function as habitat indicators. Little can be said about the carabid fauna, due to a relatively low number of individuals, nevertheless, the species found do offer a first approach to the species inventory of this group for this particular locality. Our findings support the hypothesis that anthropogenic activity associated to the increase of pastures is deletereous for the diversity of the myrmecofauna from the Natural National Park Farallones of Cali's buffer zone.
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