Charting uncertainty about ant origins

Crozier, Ross H.

doi:10.1073/pnas.0608880103

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 23 publications

(25 reference statements)

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“…Direct benefits of inheriting the natal nest rather than altruistic helping seem to be main selective forces for the occurrence of a defensive reproductive morph in dampwood termites [ 9 ] and for 'workers' in drywood termites [ 10 ] (see also [ 11 ]). This contrasts sharply with social Hymenoptera where altruistic helping was the major driving force (probably with the exception of some wasps) for the evolution of complex societies [ 12 - 14 ]. It is generally difficult to deduce the ancient evolutionary history from studies on extant species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By contrast the eusocial Hymenoptera evolved complex societies at least 11 times independently from different ancestors within the Hymenoptera [ 12 , 22 , 34 ]. Although morphological, molecular, paleontological studies have presented conflicting views on ants early evolution [ 12 , 35 , 36 ], they certainly evolved from predatory wasps [ 12 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This provides ample opportunities for alloparental care. Most modern ants (and many predatory wasps) have adults subsisting mostly on floral nectar or hemiptera exudates while hunting prey (or carrion) for the young [ 12 ]. As progressive food provisioners the adult female offspring can considerable reduce the work load of their mothers by foraging to feed their younger siblings (and their mother) so that mothers can concentrate on egg-production.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Termites, hemimetabolous diploid white ants?

Korb

2008

Front Zool

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Ants and termites are the most abundant animals on earth. Their ecological success is attributed to their social life. They live in colonies consisting of few reproducing individuals, while the large majority of colony members (workers/soldiers) forego reproduction at least temporarilly. Despite their apparent resemblance in social organisation, both groups evolved social life independently. Termites are basically social cockroaches, while ants evolved from predatory wasps. In this review, I will concentrate on termites with an ancestral life type, the wood-dwelling termites, to compare them with ants. Their different ancestries provided both groups with different life history preadaptations for social evolution. Like their closest relatives, the woodroaches, wood-dwelling termites live inside their food, a piece of wood. Thus, intensive costly food provisioning of their young is not necessary, especially as young instars are rather independent due to their hemimetabolous development. In contrast, ants are progressive food provisioners which have to care intensively for their helpless brood. Corresponding to the precocial -altricial analogy, helping by workers is selected in ants, while new evidence suggests that wood-dwelling termite workers are less engaged in brood care. Rather they seem to stay in the nest because there is generally low selection for dispersal. The nest presents a safe haven with no local resource competition as long as food is abundant (which is generally the case), while founding a new colony is very risky. Despite these differences between ants and termites, their common dwelling life style resulted in convergent evolution, especially winglessness, that probably accounts for the striking similarity between both groups. In ants, all workers are wingless and winglessness in sexuals evolved in several taxa as a derived trait. In wood-dwelling termites, workers are by default wingless as they are immatures. These immatures can develop into winged sexuals that disperse and found a new nest or into neotenic replacement reproductives that inherit the natal colony. Depending on the worker instar from which the latter develop, the neotenic reproductives are either apterous or brachypterous, but never winged. I propose that this wing polyphenism might present a basis for the evolution of social life in termites.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Termites, hemimetabolous diploid white ants?

Korb

2008

Front Zool

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“…Despite its recognition as an artificial assemblage of subfamilies, poneromorphs are still the active focus of studies in phylogeny, morphology, and social organization, since these diverse subfamilies are considered key taxa for understanding ant biology as a whole given their status as the ''socially primitive'' taxa within the family (Wilson, 1971;Hölldo-bler and Wilson, 1990;Wilson and Hölldobler, 2005;Ward, 2006;Peeters and Molet, 2010). While great progress has been made in reconstructing the relationships among the ant subfamilies, the exact placement of the root for the ant clade remains elusive, although it is thought to lie somewhere within the poneromorphs (Brady et al, 2006;Crozier, 2006;Rabeling et al, 2008). Consequently, the way in which poneromorph subfamilies relate to one another and to the rest of the ants is of major importance in understanding early ant diversification.…”

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confidence: 99%

A Phylogenetic Analysis of Ant Morphology (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with Special Reference to the Poneromorph Subfamilies

Keller

2011

Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History

117

168

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“…However, new results recently reported by Brady et al (2006) and Moreau et al (2006) now support the monophyly of most of the subfamilies and clarify their relationships, although they still disagree in some important aspects (see Crozier 2006). However, as an extinct subfamily of still conflicting systematic assignment, the Sphecomyrminae is not considered in these molecular phylogenies.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

New fossil ants in French Cretaceous amber (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Perrichot

Nel

Néraudeau

et al. 2007

Naturwissenschaften

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Recent studies on the ant phylogeny are mainly based on the molecular analyses of extant subfamilies and do not include the extinct, only Cretaceous subfamily Sphecomyrminae. However, the latter is of major importance for ant relationships, as it is considered the most basal subfamily. Therefore, each new discovery of a Mesozoic ant is of high interest for improving our understanding of their early history and basal relationships. In this paper, a new sphecomyrmine ant, allied to the Burmese amber genus Haidomyrmex, is described from mid-Cretaceous amber of France as Haidomyrmodes mammuthus gen. and sp. n. The diagnosis of the tribe Haidomyrmecini is emended based on the new type material, which includes a gyne (alate female) and two incomplete workers. The genus Sphecomyrmodes, hitherto known by a single species from Burmese amber, is also reported and a new species described as S. occidentalis sp. n. after two workers remarkably preserved in a single piece of Early Cenomanian French amber. The new fossils provide additional information on early ant diversity and relationships and demonstrate that the monophyly of the Sphecomyrminae, as currently defined, is still weakly supported.

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Charting uncertainty about ant origins

Cited by 9 publications

References 23 publications

Termites, hemimetabolous diploid white ants?

Termites, hemimetabolous diploid white ants?

A Phylogenetic Analysis of Ant Morphology (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with Special Reference to the Poneromorph Subfamilies

New fossil ants in French Cretaceous amber (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

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