scholarly journals The evolution of social parasitism in Formica ants revealed by a global phylogeny

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (38) ◽  
pp. e2026029118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek L. Borowiec ◽  
Stefan P. Cover ◽  
Christian Rabeling
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Social Parasitism ◽  
Colony Founding ◽  
Colony Foundation ◽  
Social Parasites ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectories ◽  
Dependent Colony Founding ◽  
High Parasite ◽  
Temporary Social Parasitism

Studying the behavioral and life history transitions from a cooperative, eusocial life history to exploitative social parasitism allows for deciphering the conditions under which changes in behavior and social organization lead to diversification. The Holarctic ant genus Formica is ideally suited for studying the evolution of social parasitism because half of its 172 species are confirmed or suspected social parasites, which includes all three major classes of social parasitism known in ants. However, the life history transitions associated with the evolution of social parasitism in this genus are largely unexplored. To test competing hypotheses regarding the origins and evolution of social parasitism, we reconstructed a global phylogeny of Formica ants. The genus originated in the Old World ∼30 Ma ago and dispersed multiple times to the New World and back. Within Formica, obligate dependent colony-founding behavior arose once from a facultatively polygynous common ancestor practicing independent and facultative dependent colony foundation. Temporary social parasitism likely preceded or arose concurrently with obligate dependent colony founding, and dulotic social parasitism evolved once within the obligate dependent colony-founding clade. Permanent social parasitism evolved twice from temporary social parasitic ancestors that rarely practiced colony budding, demonstrating that obligate social parasitism can originate from a facultative parasitic background in socially polymorphic organisms. In contrast to permanently socially parasitic ants in other genera, the high parasite diversity in Formica likely originated via allopatric speciation, highlighting the diversity of convergent evolutionary trajectories resulting in nearly identical parasitic life history syndromes.

scholarly journals The evolution of social parasitism in Formica ants revealed by a global phylogeny

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek L Borowiec ◽  
Stefan P Cover ◽  
Christian Rabeling
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
New World ◽  
Social Parasitism ◽  
Social Parasite ◽  
Colony Foundation ◽  
Parasite Diversity ◽  
Social Parasites ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectories ◽  
Competing Hypotheses ◽  
Temporary Social Parasitism

Studying the behavioral and life history transitions from a cooperative, eusocial life history to exploitative social parasitism allows for deciphering the conditions under which changes in behavior and social organization lead to diversification. The Holarctic ant genus Formica is ideally suited for studying the evolution of social parasitism because half of its 178 species are confirmed or suspected social parasites, which includes all three major classes of social parasitism known in ants. However, the life-history transitions associated with the evolution of social parasitism in this genus are largely unexplored. To test competing hypotheses regarding the origins and evolution of social parasitism, we reconstructed the first global phylogeny of Formica ants and representative formicine outgroups. The genus Formica originated in the Old World during the Oligocene (~30 Ma ago) and dispersed multiple times to the New World. Within Formica, the capacity for dependent colony foundation and temporary social parasitism arose once from a facultatively polygynous, independently colony founding ancestor. Within this parasitic clade, dulotic social parasitism evolved once from a facultatively temporary parasitic ancestor that likely practiced colony budding frequently. Permanent social parasitism evolved twice from temporary social parasitic ancestors that rarely practiced colony budding, demonstrating that obligate social parasitism can originate from different facultative parasitic backgrounds in socially polymorphic organisms. In contrast to inquiline ant species in other genera, the high social parasite diversity in Formica likely originated via allopatric speciation, highlighting the diversity of convergent evolutionary trajectories resulting in nearly identical parasitic life history syndromes.

scholarly journals The evidence of temporary social parasitism by Polyrhachis lamellidens (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in a Camponotus obscuripes colony (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Iwai ◽  
Y. Kurihara ◽  
N. Kono ◽  
M. Tomita ◽  
K. Arakawa
Keyword(s):  
Nestmate Recognition ◽  
Social Parasitism ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Behavioral Tests ◽  
Colony Foundation ◽  
Social Parasites ◽  
Mixed Brood ◽  
Recognition Ability ◽  
Temporary Social Parasitism ◽  
Rearing Experiment

AbstractPolyrhachis lamellidens is a temporary socially parasitic ant whose new queen utilizes other ant species in the early stages of colony foundation. Field observations and rearing experiments suggest that Camponotus japonicus is a host species of P. lamellidens. It is presumed that Camponotus obscuripes is also a host of P. lamellidens by rearing experiments and field observations; however, there are no records of P. lamellidens workers or brood coexisting in C. obscuripes colonies in field observations, and there is no clear evidence that C. obscuripes is a natural host of P. lamellidens. We conducted detailed field observations, behavioral tests, and rearing experiments to show that C. obscuripes is a host of temporary social parasites. We found colonies with P. lamellidens queens, workers, and larvae intermixed with C. obscuripes workers in the field. Behavioral tests showed that workers of both species in mixed colonies did not attack each other and maintained nestmate recognition ability, which suggests a collaborative nestmate relationship. Furthermore, a rearing experiment confirmed social parasitism by P. lamellidens among C. obscuripes by producing a mixed brood-producing colony. These are the first field and laboratory records of temporary social parasitism involving P. lamellidens and C. obscuripes.

scholarly journals Two new species of socially parasitic Nylanderia ants from the southeastern United States

ZooKeys ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 921 ◽  
pp. 23-48
Author(s):  
Steven J. Messer ◽  
Stefan P. Cover ◽  
Christian Rabeling
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Life History ◽  
New Species ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Social Parasitism ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Social Parasite ◽  
Social Parasites ◽  
Two New Species ◽  
Worker Caste

In ants, social parasitism is an umbrella term describing a variety of life-history strategies, where a parasitic species depends entirely on a free-living species, for part of or its entire life-cycle, for either colony founding, survival, and/or reproduction. The highly specialized inquiline social parasites are fully dependent on their hosts for their entire lifecycles. Most inquiline species are tolerant of the host queen in the parasitized colony, forgo producing a worker caste, and invest solely in the production of sexual offspring. In general, inquilines are rare, and their geographic distribution is limited, making it difficult to study them. Inquiline populations appear to be small, cryptic, and they are perhaps ephemeral. Thus, information about their natural history is often fragmentary or non-existent but is necessary for understanding the socially parasitic life history syndrome in more detail. Here, we describe two new species of inquiline social parasites, Nylanderia deyrupisp. nov. and Nylanderia parasiticasp. nov., from the southeastern United States, parasitizing Nylanderia wojciki and Nylanderia faisonensis, respectively. The formicine genus Nylanderia is large and globally distributed, but until the recent description of Nylanderia deceptrix, social parasites were unknown from this genus. In addition to describing the new social parasite species, we summarize the fragmentary information known about their biology, present a key to both the queens and the males of the Nylanderia social parasites, and discuss the morphology of the social parasites in the context of the inquiline syndrome.

scholarly journals Box, stalked, and upside-down? Draft genomes from diverse jellyfish (Cnidaria, Acraspeda) lineages: Alatina alata (Cubozoa), Calvadosia cruxmelitensis (Staurozoa), and Cassiopea xamachana (Scyphozoa)

GigaScience ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aki Ohdera ◽  
Cheryl L Ames ◽  
Rebecca B Dikow ◽  
Ehsan Kayal ◽  
Marta Chiodin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Hox Genes ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
Valuable Resource ◽  
Genomic Features ◽  
Cassiopea Xamachana ◽  
Nuisance Species

Abstract Background Anthozoa, Endocnidozoa, and Medusozoa are the 3 major clades of Cnidaria. Medusozoa is further divided into 4 clades, Hydrozoa, Staurozoa, Cubozoa, and Scyphozoa—the latter 3 lineages make up the clade Acraspeda. Acraspeda encompasses extraordinary diversity in terms of life history, numerous nuisance species, taxa with complex eyes rivaling other animals, and some of the most venomous organisms on the planet. Genomes have recently become available within Scyphozoa and Cubozoa, but there are currently no published genomes within Staurozoa and Cubozoa. Findings Here we present 3 new draft genomes of Calvadosia cruxmelitensis (Staurozoa), Alatina alata (Cubozoa), and Cassiopea xamachana (Scyphozoa) for which we provide a preliminary orthology analysis that includes an inventory of their respective venom-related genes. Additionally, we identify synteny between POU and Hox genes that had previously been reported in a hydrozoan, suggesting this linkage is highly conserved, possibly dating back to at least the last common ancestor of Medusozoa, yet likely independent of vertebrate POU-Hox linkages. Conclusions These draft genomes provide a valuable resource for studying the evolutionary history and biology of these extraordinary animals, and for identifying genomic features underlying venom, vision, and life history traits in Acraspeda.

scholarly journals Fossil hominin shoulders support an African ape-like last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (38) ◽  
pp. 11829-11834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan M. Young ◽  
Terence D. Capellini ◽  
Neil T. Roach ◽  
Zeresenay Alemseged
Keyword(s):  
Tool Use ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectories ◽  
Parsimonious Model ◽  
And Function ◽  
Fossil Hominin

Reconstructing the behavioral shifts that drove hominin evolution requires knowledge of the timing, magnitude, and direction of anatomical changes over the past ∼6–7 million years. These reconstructions depend on assumptions regarding the morphotype of the Homo–Pan last common ancestor (LCA). However, there is little consensus for the LCA, with proposed models ranging from African ape to orangutan or generalized Miocene ape-like. The ancestral state of the shoulder is of particular interest because it is functionally associated with important behavioral shifts in hominins, such as reduced arboreality, high-speed throwing, and tool use. However, previous morphometric analyses of both living and fossil taxa have yielded contradictory results. Here, we generated a 3D morphospace of ape and human scapular shape to plot evolutionary trajectories, predict ancestral morphologies, and directly test alternative evolutionary hypotheses using the hominin fossil evidence. We show that the most parsimonious model for the evolution of hominin shoulder shape starts with an African ape-like ancestral state. We propose that the shoulder evolved gradually along a single morphocline, achieving modern human-like configuration and function within the genus Homo. These data are consistent with a slow, progressive loss of arboreality and increased tool use throughout human evolution.

scholarly journals Colony Founding Behavior of Some Desert Ants: Geographic Variation in Metrosis

2000 ◽  
Vol 103 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 95-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven W. Rissing ◽  
Robert A. Johnson ◽  
John W. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Variation ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Colony Founding ◽  
Colony Foundation ◽  
Desert Ants ◽  
Adaptive Value ◽  
Acromyrmex Versicolor

The antsPogonomyrmex catifornicusandPheidole tucsonicadisplay cooperative colony foundation with co-foundresses forming associations without respect to relatedness. Geographic variation in method of colony foundation [cooperative (pleometrosis) versus non-cooperative (haplometrosis)] occurs inP. californicus, Acromyrmex versicolor, Myrmecocystus mimicus and Messor pergandei.Such variation in colony founding behavior strongly suggests that comparative studies of the adaptive value of cooperative colony founding will be extremely rewarding.

Dependent colony founding in the ant Proformica longiseta

2001 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Fernández-Escudero ◽  
P. Seppä ◽  
P. Pamilo
Keyword(s):  
Colony Founding ◽  
Proformica Longiseta ◽  
Dependent Colony Founding

scholarly journals Plant defences against ants provide a pathway to social parasitism in butterflies

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1811) ◽  
pp. 20151111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Patricelli ◽  
Francesca Barbero ◽  
Andrea Occhipinti ◽  
Cinzia M. Bertea ◽  
Simona Bonelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Cues ◽  
Gravid Female ◽  
Social Parasitism ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Origanum Vulgare ◽  
Gene Expressions ◽  
Social Parasites ◽  
Ant Colonies ◽  
Host Interactions ◽  
Main Period

Understanding the chemical cues and gene expressions that mediate herbivore–host-plant and parasite–host interactions can elucidate the ecological costs and benefits accruing to different partners in tight-knit community modules, and may reveal unexpected complexities. We investigated the exploitation of sequential hosts by the phytophagous–predaceous butterfly Maculinea arion , whose larvae initially feed on Origanum vulgare flowerheads before switching to parasitize Myrmica ant colonies for their main period of growth. Gravid female butterflies were attracted to Origanum plants that emitted high levels of the monoterpenoid volatile carvacrol, a condition that occurred when ants disturbed their roots: we also found that Origanum expressed four genes involved in monoterpene formation when ants were present, accompanied by a significant induction of jasmonates. When exposed to carvacrol, Myrmica workers upregulated five genes whose products bind and detoxify this biocide, and their colonies were more tolerant of it than other common ant genera, consistent with an observed ability to occupy the competitor-free spaces surrounding Origanum . A cost is potential colony destruction by Ma. arion , which in turn may benefit infested Origanum plants by relieving their roots of further damage. Our results suggest a new pathway, whereby social parasites can detect successive resources by employing plant volatiles to simultaneously select their initial plant food and a suitable sequential host.

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