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    Phylogenetics and Biogeography of Ponerine Ants Chris A. Schmidt

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    Bakhtiar Hasmanan
    1) The author presents a preliminary molecular phylogeny of the ant subfamily Ponerinae to elucidate tribal and generic relationships, finding the tribes Platythyreini and Ponerini as sister groups. 2) The genus Pachycondyla is found to be massively polyphyletic, scattered throughout the Ponerini, illustrating the need for ponerine taxonomic revision at the genus level. 3) Four major clades are recognized within Ponerini: a Southeast Asian clade; a cryptically foraging clade including Hypoponera; a Neotropical clade including Pachycondyla sensu stricto; and a large Old World clade including Le

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    Phylogenetics and Biogeography of Ponerine Ants Chris A. Schmidt

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    Bakhtiar Hasmanan
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    1) The author presents a preliminary molecular phylogeny of the ant subfamily Ponerinae to elucidate tribal and generic relationships, finding the tribes Platythyreini and Ponerini as sister groups. 2) The genus Pachycondyla is found to be massively polyphyletic, scattered throughout the Ponerini, illustrating the need for ponerine taxonomic revision at the genus level. 3) Four major clades are recognized within Ponerini: a Southeast Asian clade; a cryptically foraging clade including Hypoponera; a Neotropical clade including Pachycondyla sensu stricto; and a large Old World clade including Le

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    1) The author presents a preliminary molecular phylogeny of the ant subfamily Ponerinae to elucidate tribal and generic relationships, finding the tribes Platythyreini and Ponerini as sister groups. 2) The genus Pachycondyla is found to be massively polyphyletic, scattered throughout the Ponerini, illustrating the need for ponerine taxonomic revision at the genus level. 3) Four major clades are recognized within Ponerini: a Southeast Asian clade; a cryptically foraging clade including Hypoponera; a Neotropical clade including Pachycondyla sensu stricto; and a large Old World clade including Le

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    16 views2 pages

    Phylogenetics and Biogeography of Ponerine Ants Chris A. Schmidt

    Uploaded by

    Bakhtiar Hasmanan
    1) The author presents a preliminary molecular phylogeny of the ant subfamily Ponerinae to elucidate tribal and generic relationships, finding the tribes Platythyreini and Ponerini as sister groups. 2) The genus Pachycondyla is found to be massively polyphyletic, scattered throughout the Ponerini, illustrating the need for ponerine taxonomic revision at the genus level. 3) Four major clades are recognized within Ponerini: a Southeast Asian clade; a cryptically foraging clade including Hypoponera; a Neotropical clade including Pachycondyla sensu stricto; and a large Old World clade including Le

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    Phylogenetics and Biogeography of Ponerine Ants

    Chris A. Schmidt

    Ponerine ants (Ponerinae) are a diverse and conspicuous component of tropical faunas. With
    nearly 1,000 described species worldwide they constitute the third largest ant subfamily, and as a
    group ponerines exhibit impressive morphological, ecological, and behavioral diversity. Despite
    their ecological importance and value as potential models for studying social evolution, the
    Ponerinae has never recieved any phylogenetic treatment, and the relationships among the major
    lineages and their biogeographic history are almost completely unknown. Major systematic
    challenges remain, as past reliance on morphological evidence and phenetic (rather than
    cladistic) principles has resulted in an untenable status quo in ponerine taxonomy.
    I present a preliminary molecular phylogeny for the Ponerinae, utilizing nuclear and
    mitochondrial protein-coding genes and nuclear ribosomal genes to elucidae tribal and generic
    relationships. The tribes Platythyreini and Ponerini are found as sister groups with high statistical
    support (the third tribe, Thaumatomyrmecini, is exceedingly rare and has not yet been sampled).
    The large genus Pachycondyla is found to be massively polyphyletic, with members scattered
    throughout the Ponerini, illustrating the need for a revision of ponerine taxonomy at the genus
    level. A tentative redefinition of ponerine genera is given, with nearly 40 genera recognized
    (compared with 25 currently recognized genera). At the broadest levels, four major clades are
    recognized within Ponerini: the Southeast Asian genus Diacamma; a large clade containing all
    hypogeic (cryptic foraging) ponerine taxa sampled, including Hypoponera; a diverse Neotropical
    clade including Pachycondyla sensu stricto; and a large Old World clade of epigeic (non-cryptic
    foraging) ponerines which includes Leptogenys, Odontomachus, and many other groups. The
    poor resolution and long branches within this latter Old World clade suggest that it underwent a
    rapid and rich radiation deep in the past.
    Results of a preliminary phylogenetic dating analysis are presented, with a discussion of
    its implications for ponerine biogeography. The two major ponerine tribes are estimated to have
    diverged roughly 110 million years ago, much older than the splits between some long-
    recognized ant subfamilies, suggesting that Platythyreini should perhaps be raised to subfamily
    status. Relationships among other ant subfamilies (widely sampled as outgroups) are also briefly
    discussed. I find support for Leptanillinae as the sister group to all other extant ants, with an
    unresolved grade of “poneroid” taxa (Proceratiinae, Amblyoponinae, and Paraponerinae), and
    finally Ponerinae as sister to the remaining ant subfamilies which together constitute roughly
    85% of the described ant species diversity.
    Among other results, mass raiding (i.e. army ant-like foraging behavior) is shown to have
    arisen independently at least 4 times among the Ponerini. The deep phylogenetic split between
    hypogeic and epigeic ponerines is an unexpected result and contradicts the previous belief that
    hypogeic ponerines arose multiple times from epigeic ancestors. Another result is that
    reproduction by gamergates (mated, reproductive workers) has arisen multiple times within the
    Ponerini. Gamergates are rare outside the Ponerini, and their frequent evolution within the
    Ponerini highlights the extensive diversity of ponerine social systems.
    These results should ultimately help reconstruct the sequence of evolutionary, migratory,
    and geological events that resulted in the present diversity and distribution of the subfamily, and
    will lay the groundwork for future taxonomic revisions and studies of ponerine morphological,
    ecological, and social evolution.

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