High skew in the Caucasus: functional monogyny in the ant Leptothorax scamni

Heınze, Jürgen; Gratiashvili, Nana

doi:10.1007/s00040-015-0415-5

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…It remains unknown whether queens from functionally monogynous populations behave similarly flexibly, have lost their behavioural plasticity, or have a changed threshold for queen fighting. Finally, phylogenetic analysis showed that functional monogyny evolved convergently in several lineages of the genus Leptothorax and thus corroborates skew as a flexible trait that can evolve with environmental changes [ 54 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Phylogeography of social polymorphism in a boreo-montane ant

2016

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BackgroundThe disjunct distribution of several Palearctic species has been widely shaped by the changes in climatic conditions during the Quaternary. The observed genetic differentiation or reproductive isolation between extant populations may be the outcome of their contemporary geographic separation or reproductive incompatibility due to differences in phenotypic traits which have evolved in isolated refugia. In the boreal ant Leptothorax acervorum, colonies from central and peripheral populations differ in social structure: colonies from Central and Northern Europe may contain several equally reproductive queens (facultative polygyny), while in colonies from peripheral populations in Spain only one the most dominant of several queens lays eggs (functional monogyny). By reconstructing the specie’s evolutionary and demographic history in Southwestern Europe we examine whether variation in social organization is associated with restricted gene flow between the two social forms.ResultsWe show that multi-queen colonies from all so far known inner Iberian populations of L. acervorum are functionally monogynous, whereas multi-queen colonies from all Pyrenean populations are polygynous, like those from other previously studied areas in Europe. Our analyses revealed complex spatial-genetic structure, but no association between spatial-genetic structure and social organization in SW-Europe. The population in the western Pyrenees diverged most strongly from other Iberian populations. Moreover, microsatellite data suggest the occurrence of recent bottlenecks in Pyrenean and inner Iberian populations.ConclusionsOur study shows a lack of reproductive isolation between the two social forms in SW-Europe. This in turn suggests that demographic and spatial patterns in genetic variation as well as the distribution of social phenotypes are better explained by co-variation with climatic, ecological, and historical factors. Moreover, we for the first time show the existence of substantial spatial-genetic structure in L. acervorum, suggesting the existence of multiple refugia in SW-Europe, including two extra-Mediterranean refugia in France. While gene flow among inner Iberian refugia may have been larger during the late glacial, extra-Mediterranean refugia in southern France may have contributed to the post-glacial recolonization of W-Europe.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0711-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Phylogeography of social polymorphism in a boreo-montane ant

2016

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“…Many kinds of phenotypic differences lead to both individual and colony variation (reviewed in [2][3][4]); including: life-history traits (i.e., growth, reproduction, and queen mating frequency [5][6][7][8][9][10]), morphological traits related to social behavior and physiology [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], andbehavioral traits (i.e., regulation of activity, cognitive abilities, or aggression and nestmate recognition [19][20][21]). The development and maintenance of individual and colony variation is influenced by resource availability, abiotic conditions along a geographic cline, social interactions within and between colonies, and population-level genetic factors such as dependent lineages(reviewed in [22]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The behavioral ecology of variation in social insects

Jandt

Gordon

2016

Current Opinion in Insect Science

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Understanding the ecological relevance of variation within and between colonies has been an important and recurring theme in social insect research. Recent research addresses the genomic and physiological factors and fitness effects associated with behavioral variation, within and among colonies, in regulation of activity, cognitive abilities, and aggression. Behavioral variation among colonies has consequences for survival and reproductive success that are the basis for evolutionary change.

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“…Leptothorax and monophyletic lineage within L. acervorum Mitochondrial genes (cytochrome b and cytochrome oxidase subunit 1) alone or in combination with other nuclear markers have been previously used in phylogenetic inferences in Leptothorax (Baur et al, 1996(Baur et al, , 1995Beibl et al, 2005;Heinze and Gratiashvili, 2015;Schär et al, 2018), but with limited representation of its species or without using other genera within the Formicoxenus genus-group. Our more comprehensive sampling (42% of Leptothorax species, AntWeb ver.…”

Section: Evidence On Non-monophyletic Taxa Withinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These analyses have recovered a close relationship between Formicoxenus and Leptothorax. However, all these studies have been focused on higher taxonomic relationships and few studies have included a comprehensive sampling of species within each genus (Heinze and Gratiashvili, 2015;Prebus, 2017;Schär et al, 2018). Among the Formicoxenus genus-group, Leptothorax is the second largest genus with an estimated 20 species (AntWeb ver.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The genus has a Holarctic distribution and it has been inferred to have originated in the Nearctic and dispersed in the Palearctic within the last 2 Ma (Schär et al, 2018). Relationships within Leptothorax have not been fully resolved and previous phylogenetic analyses indicate the presence of multiple undescribed and non-monophyletic taxa, particularly in the Nearctic (Heinze and Gratiashvili, 2015;Schär et al, 2018). At least seven species have been described in the Palearctic region, most of them with limited distribution and only L. acervorum with a distribution both in the Nearctic and the Palearctic regions (Schär et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Phylogeny of theFormicoxenusgenus-group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) reveals isolated lineages ofLeptothorax acervorumin the Iberian Peninsula predating the Last Glacial Maximum

Ojeda

John

Hammond

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The Formicoxenus genus-group comprises six genera within the tribe Crematogastrini. The group is well known for repeated evolution of social parasitism among closely related taxa and cold-adapted species with large distribution ranges in the Nearctic and Palearctic regions. Previous analyses based on nuclear markers (ultraconserved elements, UCEs) and mitochondrial genes suggest close relationship between Formicoxenus Mayr, 1855, Leptothorax Mayr, 1855 and Harpagoxenus Forel, 1893. However, scant sampling has limited phylogenetic assessment of these genera. Also, previous phylogeographic analyses of L. acervorum (Fabricius, 1793) have been limited to its West-Palearctic range of distribution, which has provided a narrow view on recolonization, population structure and existing refugia of the species. Here, we inferred the phylogenenetic history of genera within the Formicoxenus genus-group and reconstructed the phylogeography of L. acervorum with more extensive sampling. We employed four datasets consisting of whole genomes and sequences of the COI. The topologies of previous nuclear and our inferences based on mitochondrial genomes were overall congruent. Further, Formicoxenus may not be monophyletic. We found several monophyletic lineages that do not correspond to the current species described within Leptothorax, especially in the Nearctic region. We identified a monophyletic L. acervorum lineage that comprises both Nearctic and Palearctic locations. The most recent expansion within L. acervorum probably occurred within the last 0.5 Ma with isolated populations predating the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), which are localized in at least two refugial areas (Pyrenean and Northern plateau) in the Iberian Peninsula. The patterns recovered suggest a shared glacial refugium in the Iberian Peninsula with cold-adapted trees that currently share high-altitude environments in this region.

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High skew in the Caucasus: functional monogyny in the ant Leptothorax scamni

Cited by 3 publications

References 53 publications

Phylogeography of social polymorphism in a boreo-montane ant

Phylogeography of social polymorphism in a boreo-montane ant

The behavioral ecology of variation in social insects

Phylogeny of theFormicoxenusgenus-group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) reveals isolated lineages ofLeptothorax acervorumin the Iberian Peninsula predating the Last Glacial Maximum

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