Meeting Abstract
Biodiversity surveys are critical tools for understanding fundamental patterns and shifts in the distribution of life across the planet. While the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) throughout most of New England has been extensively sampled, relatively few surveys have been conducted in Rhode Island. Working with undergraduate students and members of the community, we surveyed for ant species at two sites in Providence, Rhode Island, from 2015-2019. Manual collection and a 10-week repeated pitfall trap sampling method was used at Providence College and a rapid biological assessment (bioblitz) was conducted at Roger Williams Park. A total of 36 species were identified including the first observations of the introduced Asian needle ant (Brachyponera chinensis Emery, 1895) in New England. Twenty-six species identified were new county records and seven species were new state records, representing a substantial update to the list of known ants in Rhode Island, currently totaling 67 species from five subfamilies. These results fill an important gap in our knowledge of New England ant fauna, they are comparable with similarly scaled surveys conducted at parks and cities across the world, and they also question assumptions about the effects of urbanization on species diversity.
