Molecular Phylogenetic Study of a Myrmecophyte Symbiosis: DidLeonardoxa/Ant Associations Diversify via Cospeciation?

Chenuil, Anne; McKey, Doyle

doi:10.1006/mpev.1996.0076

Cited by 56 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The three myrmecophytes di¡er in their diversity of associated ants. Each tree of the subspecies rumpiensis McKey ( `L. africana T2') (Chenuil & McKey 1996) is occupied by a colony of one of ca. 15 di¡erent species of myrmicine and dolichoderine ants (D. McKey and R. Snelling, unpublished data).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, some ant^plant symbioses are species speci¢c, at least in part of the geographic range of one of the partners (McKey 1984(McKey , 1991Chenuil & McKey 1996;Yu & Davidson 1997;Fiala et al 1999). Despite some suggestive observations (Yu & Davidson 1997), no clear evidence demonstrates the reciprocal evolution of characters in such systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Guilds of ants often interact with guilds of plants and each guild may be taxonomically diverse (Davidson & McKey 1993a,b). Taxonomic patterns (Longino 1989) and phylogenetic analyses (Ward 1991(Ward , 1993Ayala et al 1996;Chenuil & McKey 1996) suggest numerous cases of de novo colonization and host shifting rather than long associations between lineages. Even in cases where a number of congeneric ant species are associated with a number of congeneric plants, close examination has revealed that, in both the ant and plant lineages, symbiotic associations have independently arisen two or more times (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plant lock and ant key: pairwise coevolution of an exclusion filter in an ant–plant mutualism

Brouat

Garcia

Andary³

et al. 2001

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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Although observations suggest pairwise coevolution in speci¢c ant^plant symbioses, coevolutionary processes have rarely been demonstrated. We report on, what is to the authors' knowledge, the strongest evidence yet for reciprocal adaptation of morphological characters in a species-speci¢c ant^plant mutualism. The plant character is the prostoma, which is a small unligni¢ed organ at the apex of the domatia in which symbiotic ants excavate an entrance hole. Each myrmecophyte in the genus Leonardoxa has evolved a prostoma with a di¡erent shape. By performing precise measurements on the prostomata of three related myrmecophytes, on their speci¢c associated ants and on the entrance holes excavated by symbiotic ants at the prostomata, we showed that correspondence of the plant and ant traits forms a morphological and behavioural ¢lter. We have strong evidence for coevolution between the dimensions and shape of the symbiotic ants and the prostoma in one of the three ant^Leonardoxa associations.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plant lock and ant key: pairwise coevolution of an exclusion filter in an ant–plant mutualism

Brouat

Garcia

Andary³

et al. 2001

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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“…Few co-phylogenetic studies of ant/plant systems have been conducted. In the African Leonardoxa africana, two of four subspecies have specialized domatia that were colonized in parallel by pre-adapted ant species [15,16]. Species of the Southeast Asian Crematogaster borneensis-group (former subgenus Decacrema) independently colonized three species groups of Macaranga, with an apparent matching of plant stem morphology and associated ant behaviour [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Macroevolutionary assembly of ant/plant symbioses:Pseudomyrmexants and their ant-housing plants in the Neotropics

2015

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Symbioses include some of the clearest cases of coevolution, but their origin, loss or reassembly with different partners can rarely be inferred. Here we use ant/plant symbioses involving three plant clades to investigate the evolution of symbioses. We generated phylogenies for the big-eyed arboreal ants (Pseudomyrmecinae), including 72% of their 286 species, as well as for five of their plant host groups, in each case sampling more than 61% of the species. We show that the ant-housing Vachellia (Mimosoideae) clade and its ants co-diversified for the past 5 Ma, with some species additionally colonized by younger plant-nesting ant species, some parasitic. An apparent co-radiation of ants and Tachigali (Caesalpinioideae) was followed by waves of colonization by the same ant clade, and subsequent occupation by a younger ant group. Wide crown and stem age differences between the ant-housing genus Triplaris (Polygonaceae) and its obligate ant inhabitants, and stochastic trait mapping, indicate that its domatium evolved earlier than the ants now occupying it, suggesting previous symbioses that dissolved. Parasitic ant species evolved from generalists, not from mutualists, and are younger than the mutualistic systems they parasitize. Our study illuminates the macroevolutionary assembly of ant/plant symbioses, which has been highly dynamic, even in very specialized systems.

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“…We studied the myrmecophyte Leonardoxa africana T3 (Chenuil & McKey 1996), associated with the ant Aphomomyrmex afer. In contrast to the strictly bipartite interaction between L. africana sensu stricto and Petalomyrmex (McKey 1984;Gaume et al 1997), Aphomomyrmex in L. africana T3 is associated with homopterans, and it is the role of the latter that is the focus of this study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ant–plant–homopteran mutualism: how the third partner affects the interaction between a plant-specialist ant and its myrmecophyte host

Gaume

McKey

Terrin

1998

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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By estimating relative costs and bene¢ts, we explored the role of the homopteran partner in the protection mutualism between the myrmecophyte Leonardoxa africana T3, the ant Aphomomyrmex afer, and sap-sucking homopterans tended by ants in the tree's swollen hollow twigs. The ants obtain nest sites and food from their host-plant (food is obtained either directly by extra£oral nectar or indirectly via homopterans). Aphomomyrmex workers patrol the young leaves of L. africana T3 and protect them against phytophagous insects. Because ants tended, either solely or primarily, coccids in some trees and pseudococcids in others, we were able to study whether the nature of the interaction was dependent on the identity of the third partner. First, the type of homopteran a¡ects the bene¢ts to the tree of maintaining a large ant colony. Larger colony size (relative to tree size) confers greater protection against herbivory; this relationship is more pronounced for trees whose ants tend pseudococcids than for those in which ants tend coccids. Second, for trees (and associated ant colonies) of comparable size, homopteran biomass was much larger in trees harbouring coccids than in trees with pseudococcids. Thus, the cost to the tree of maintaining ants may be greater when ants are associated with coccids. The net bene¢ts to the plant of maintaining ants appear to be much greater with pseudococcids as the third partner. To explore how the type of homopteran a¡ects functioning of the system, we attempted to determine which of the resources (nest sites, extra£oral nectar, and homopterans) is likely to limit ant colony size. In trees where ants tended coccids, ant-colony biomass was strongly dependent on the number of extra£oral nectaries. In contrast, in trees whose ants tended only pseudococcids, colony biomass was not related to the number of nectaries and was most strongly determined by the volume of available nest sites. We present hypotheses to explain how the type of homopteran a¡ects functioning of this symbiosis, and discuss the implications of our study for the evolutionary ecology of antp lant^homopteran relationships.

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Molecular Phylogenetic Study of a Myrmecophyte Symbiosis: DidLeonardoxa/Ant Associations Diversify via Cospeciation?

Cited by 56 publications

References 15 publications

Plant lock and ant key: pairwise coevolution of an exclusion filter in an ant–plant mutualism

Plant lock and ant key: pairwise coevolution of an exclusion filter in an ant–plant mutualism

Macroevolutionary assembly of ant/plant symbioses:Pseudomyrmexants and their ant-housing plants in the Neotropics

Ant–plant–homopteran mutualism: how the third partner affects the interaction between a plant-specialist ant and its myrmecophyte host

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