ANTS OF A MALLEE OUTLIER 
3 
Bassian Eyrean Widespread 
Long Forest mallee 
(n = 77) 
16 
21 
64 
Wilsons Promontory 
(n = 83) 
37 
5 
58 
Wyperfeld 
(n = 138) 
17 
28 
55 
Table 1. Biogeographical profile of the Long Forest 
mallee ant fauna (see appendix for biogeographic 
affinities of individual species) compared with those at 
Wilsons Promontory (combined lists of Andersen 
1986a, 1988) and Wyperfeld (list of Andersen & Yen 
1985). Data are the percentages of species having 
Bassian, Eyrean and widespread distributions. 
more than Wilsons Promontory (Table 1). The 
proportions of Bassian taxa are very similar at 
the first two locations (16% and 17% respec¬ 
tively, compared with 37% at Wilsons Promon¬ 
tory), with Eyrean taxa being slightly less promi¬ 
nent at Long Forest mallee (21% versus 28%, 
compared with 5% at Wilsons Promontory). The 
closer affinities of the Long Forest mallee fauna 
to that at Wyperfeld is further suggested by the 
distributions of individual species and species- 
groups. Of the 35 Long Forest taxa identified at 
this level, 15 (Myrmecia sp. nr mandibularis , M. 
Idichospila, A/, "nigriceps”, M. “tepperi”. Me - 
sostruma loweryi, Monomorium ”insolescens”, 
Podomyrma adelaidae , Iridomyrmex “discors”, 
l “nilidus”, I. purpureus, Camponotus " ephip - 
pium", C. “suffusus”, C. "tricoloratus”, Noton- 
cus “e norm is” and Polyrhachis phryne ) occur at 
Wyperfeld but not Wilsons Promontory, wher¬ 
eas the reverse is true for only five ( Myrmecia 
urens, Rhytidoponera tasmaniensis, Monomo- 
rium “flavigaster”, Tapinoma "mimitum” and 
Notoncus ,, ectatommoides ,r ). The occurrence of 
Myrmecia forceps at Long Forest mallee appears 
to be the first record of this species in Victoria 
(see Clark 1951, Taylor & Brown 1985). 
^ Dominant species of Iridomyrmex comprised 
31% of all ants captured in pitfall traps at Long 
Forest mallee (Table 2). Iridomy rmex purpur¬ 
eas, a member of the meat ant complex (Greens- 
lade 1976, Greenslade & Halliday 1982), was by 
far the leading dominant, comprising 29% of 
total catches (93% of total Iridomyrmex). The 
other major functional group was “generalised 
Myrmicinae” (mostly species of Monomorium 
and, to a lesser extent, Pheidole), which com¬ 
prised 39% of total catches. “Associated subor¬ 
dinate Camponotinae” (primarily species of 
Camponotus) and “hot and cold climate special¬ 
ists” contributed many species, but, aside from 
Notoncus "enormis” (8% total catches), none 
were frequently recorded in traps. 
Functional group composition at Long Forest 
mallee is extremely similar to that at Wyperfeld, 
the correlation (r; n = 9) between percentage 
abundance sub-totals in Table 2 being 0.97. The 
only substantial difference is the relatively high 
abundance of “cold climate specialists” (primar¬ 
ily N. “enormis') at Long Forest mallee (Table 
2). However, although the total relative abun¬ 
dance of “generalised Myrmicinae” was similar, 
species of Pheidole and Monomorium were re¬ 
spectively more and less prominent at Long For¬ 
est mallee. The sub-totals in Table 2 for Wilsons 
Promontory are not related (r = -0.17, p > 
0.05) to those for Long Forest mallee. 
DISCUSSION 
The ant fauna of Long Forest mallee is very simi¬ 
lar to that at Wyperfeld in terms of its biogeo¬ 
graphical profile (Table 1) and functional group 
composition (Table 2). Many species and 
species-groups occur at both sites. However, 
there are several important differences, all of 
which reflect the Long Forest mallee’s higher 
rainfall and southerly location. The differences 
are: a lower species to genus ratio; a lower rep¬ 
resentation of Eyrean taxa (Table 1), particularly 
Melophorus (Table 2); a higher abundance of 
Bassian elements ( Notoncus , Table 2); and the 
occurrence of some species characteristic of 
cooler and wetter parts of southern Victoria 
(such as Rhytidoponera tasmaniensis). The Long 
Forest site can therefore be described as support¬ 
ing an ant fauna essent ially typical of the mallee 
region of northwestern Victoria, but with a 
somewhat greater Bassian influence. 
Several Bassian taxa that occur at Wyperfeld 
were not recorded at Long Forest mallee. These 
include Iridomyrmex “'itinerans” and species of 
Dolichoderus and Prolasius. It is possible, 
however, that these taxa are present locally but 
outside the study site. A larger number of Eyrean 
and arid-adapted tropical taxa that occur at 
Wyperfeld were also not recorded at Long Forest 
mallee, and many of these probably do not occur 
there. They include species of Cerapachys, Mon¬ 
omorium ( “Chelaner”) (eg. “rothsteini”, 
“whitei ")> Tetramorium, Camponotus (eg. “au- 
rocincta”, whitei), Melophorus (eg. “aeneovir- 
ens’) and Opisthopsis. 
The Long Forest site is a mallee ecosystem on 
Melbourne’s doorstep. It has suffered from poor 
management decisions in the past but is now a 
