Annual Research & Review in Biology

Study of Host-Parasite Relationship among Loranthaceae Flowering Shrubs- Myrmecophytic Fruit Trees-Ants in Logbessou District, Cameroon

R. Mony

Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Douala, P.O. Box 24157, Douala Cameroon and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Douala, P.O. Box 2701, Douala Cameroon;

S. D. Dibong *

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Douala, P.O. Box 2701, Douala Cameroon and Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Douala, P.O. Box 24157, Douala, Cameroon and Institute of Fishery Sciences, University of Douala, P.O. Box 2701, Cameroon;

J. M. Ondoua

Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Douala, P.O. Box 24157, Douala, Cameroon;

C. F. Bilong Bilong

Department of Animal Biology and Physiology, Faculty of Science, University of Yaoundé I, P.O. Box 812, Yaoundé, Cameroon.

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

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Abstract

The objective of this study is host-parasite relationship among Loranthaceae flowering shrubs, Myrmecophytic fruit trees and ants. The study was conducted in 2009 in the garden plots and orchards of houses in the Logbessou district of Douala, Cameroon. We inventoried a total of 141 myrmecophytic fruit trees (diameter ≤ 45 cm) of which 95 (67.3%) were parasitized by flowering-shrub epiphytes (Loranthaceae). These trees belong to 14 species, 11 genera and 8 families. Among the eight species of ants inventoried on the trees, two were arboreal-dwelling and six were ground-dwelling, arboreal-foraging species. They belonged to two sub-families: the Formicinae, which were mostly represented by two genera, Camponotus and Paratrechina; and the Myrmicinae, which were more abundant (87.5%). The ants nested in the domatia of myrmecophyte hosts or hollow branches, trunks and dead suckers of Loranthaceae. Crematogaster was the most frequent genus and dominant ant on all of the parasitized host trees.

Keywords: Host fruit trees, myrmecophyte, Loranthaceae, ant species, garden plots, orchards

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