Three ways to distinguish species: using behavioural, ecological, and molecular data to tell apart two closely related ants,Camponotus renggeriandCamponotus rufipes(Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Abstract

The closely related Camponotus renggeri and Camponotus rufipes (subgenus Myrmothrix) often live in sympatry in the Brazilian 'cerrado' savannah, and are distinguished by nuances in their blackish body colour and by the colour of the legs. Variation in morphological characters, however, makes species separation difficult and it has been suggested that the two species should be merged into one. As appropriate species identification is essential for studies in ecology and evolutionary biology, here we examine how natural history data (habitat preference, nesting biology) and molecular tools (nuclear and mitochondrial markers) perform in distinguishing sympatric populations of C. renggeri and C. rufipes. In our study area, C. rufipes was only seen in cerrado sensu stricto (scrub of shrubs and trees), whereas C. renggeri occurred in cerrado sensu stricto and cerradão (closed woodland). Camponotus renggeri nested underground or in fallen/erect dead trunks, whereas C. rufipes constructed distinctive nests of dry straw. Nest persistence through time was higher in C. rufipes, especially in the hot/rainy season. Nest distribution was random in C. renggeri and aggregated in C. rufipes. Molecular data consistently showed that, regardless of the source of genetic variation, the uppermost hierarchical level of divergence is observed between species, unambiguously differentiating the individuals identified as C. renggeri and C. rufipes as two independent evolutionary lineages. Mitochondrial data throughout the species' geographical ranges further confirmed a consistent genetic divergence between C. renggeri and C. rufipes along their distribution in Brazil. Our integrated approach combining morphological traits with natural history and molecular data confirms that C. renggeri and C. rufipes are valid species that can be separated in our study area relatively well.

Discriminating species of Sinipta Stål (Orthoptera: Acrididae) from Uruguay based on morphological, ethological and molecular data

“…Our study reinforces the importance of an integrative approach for the correct delimitation of closely related species, as Ronque et al () succeeded in other insects. By combining morphological features concerning the stridulatory apparatus with behavioral and molecular data, we have shown that there are clear differences between the two studied “species” of Sinipta and confirmed that S. dalmani and S. hectorisperonii are distinct species.…”

Mind the gap! Integrating taxonomic approaches to assess ant diversity at the southern extreme of the Atlantic Forest

“…Altogether, this study is based on specimens from over 118 litter samples, 78 pitfall traps, 228 surface baits, 57 underground baits, and 348 hand‐collecting events. Collected ants were preserved in ethanol 96% and identified using the available literature (Boudinot, Sumnicht, & Adams, ; Brown, ; Dash, ; Fernandes, De Oliveira, & Delabie, ; Jiménez, Fernández, Arias, & Lozano‐Zambrano, ; Kempf, , ; Kugler & Brown, ; Lattke, Fernández, & Palacio, ; Lenhart, Dash, & Mackay, ; Longino & Fernández, ; MacKay, ; Mackay, & Mackay, ; Ortíz Sepúlveda, ; Ronque, Azevedo‐Silva, Mori, Souza, & Oliveira, ; Wild, , ). If we were unable to key out specimens reliably to species, they were assigned to a morphospecies.…”

“…Collected ants were preserved in ethanol 96% and identified using the available literature (Boudinot, Sumnicht, & Adams, 2013;Brown, 1978;Dash, 2011;Fernandes, De Oliveira, & Delabie, 2014;Jiménez, Fernández, Arias, & Lozano-Zambrano, 2008;Kempf, 1962Kempf, , 1965Kugler & Brown, 1982;Lattke, Fernández, & Palacio, 2007;Lenhart, Dash, & Mackay, 2013;Longino & Fernández, 2007;MacKay, 1996;Mackay, & Mackay, 2010;Ortíz Sepúlveda, 2012;Ronque, Azevedo-Silva, Mori, Souza, & Oliveira, 2015;Wild, 2005Wild, , 2007b). If we were unable to key out specimens reliably to species, they were assigned to a morphospecies.…”

Estimation of Nuclear Genome Size of Three Species of Camponotus (Mayr, 1861) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae) and Their Cytogenetic Relationship

“…The recent study conducted by Ronque et al (2015) based in an integrative approach showed very useful in understanding taxonomic issues of C. rufipes and C. renggeri. The lack of variation in the amount of DNA between these two Camponotus ants indicated that these species could not be distinguished based solely on genome size, highlighting the importance of additional approaches.…”

“…Understanding the path of chromosome evolution of three species with distinct degrees of relatedness should provide further information in enriching our knowledge about the Minimum Interaction Theory. (Seifert, 2009;Schlick-Steiner et al, 2010), the use of integrative approach is very useful in distinguishing these species, as indicated by a recent study of Ronque et al (2015).…”