Mitochondrial DNA sequences reveal close relationships between social parasitic ants and their host species

Abstract

In the tribe Leptothoracini, the phylogenetic relationship of socially parasitic ants (Doronomyrmex kutteri, D. goesswaldi and Harpagoxenus sublaevis) and their host species Leptothorax acervorum has been controversial. Even more controversial is the relationship between the socially parasitic ant Chalepoxenus muellerianus and its host species Leptothorax unifasciatus, L. nigriceps, L. interruptus and L. recedens. On the basis of morphological, ecological and ethological criteria it has been argued that socially parasitic ants and their respective hosts always evolved from common ancestors, and hence it has been postulated that these species should be included in common taxonomical groups. This would require the division of the tribe Leptothoracini into two subgroups, one comprising the subgenus Leptothorax (s. str.) and the other the subgenus Myrafant, together with their respective parasitic genera. We have used the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to compare a 360-bp sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of 14 species belonging to the tribe Leptothoracini and an outgroup species Tetramorium impurum (Tetramoriini). The results generally agree with the morphological studies which suggest that a common ancestral species differentiated into host and parasite species. This relationship is very obvious within the Leptothorax (s. str.) group but less pronounced in the species belonging to the Myrafant group. Leptothorax (Temnothorax) recedens shows a greater sequence divergence than the outgroup species T. impurum.

Cloning and sequencing of wsp encoding gene fragments reveals a diversity of co-infecting Wolbachia strains in Acromyrmex leafcutter ants

“…For example, it could explain how the social parasite A. insinuator could have evolved from its host, A. echinatior (Bekkevold and Boomsma, 2000;Schultz et al, 1998) by sympatric speciation. The close phylogenetic affiliation of ant social parasites and their hosts (Schultz et al, 1998) is known as ÔEmeryÕs ruleÕ (Baur et al, 1995(Baur et al, , 1996Buschinger, 1986) and while sympatric speciation is often invoked to explain this pattern (Baur et al, 1995(Baur et al, , 1996Buschinger, 1986), it hard to see how it could arise in the absence of a clear mechanism. Incompatibility between multiple Wolbachia types within a population could provide such a mechanism (Hurst and Schilthuizen, 1998;Stouthamer et al, 1999;Werren, 1998).…”

Social organization, reproductive behavior and ecology of Leptothorax acervorum (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the Sierra de Albarracin in central Spain

“…Heinze et al (1995a) found no differences between our material from Spain and central European L. acervorum in a couple of diagnostic isozymes. There was also a close similarity between this population and ordinary, facultatively polygynous L. acervorum from the Pyrenees in a cytochrome b DNA sequence analyzed by Baur et al (1995), though a central European and even more a Japanese population (Ito, 1990) differed markedly. As long as it remains uncertain whether the population from central Spain really belongs to L. acervorum, or perhaps represents a subspecies of the latter, it shall be provisionally named "L. acervorum Albarracin".…”

A Molecular Framework for the Phylogeny of the Ant Subfamily Dolichoderinae

“…These results form an excellent framework for the study of dolichoderine behavior and systematics, but require testing and extension, especially given that several nodes had very low confidence. Molecular phylogenetic studies of ants are relatively rare so far (Ayala et al, 1996;Baur et al, 1993Baur et al, , 1995Baur et al, , 1996Crozier et al, 1995;Wetterer et al, 1998), although ant sequences have been included in studies of families and orders and, in combination with fossil dating, have yielded an estimate of the time of origin of the group as falling into the Jurassic . The only molecular phylogenetic study of dolichoderine ants was restricted to species of Azteca (Ayala et al, 1996).…”