Eur. J. Entomol. 103 (3): 619-626, 2006 | DOI: 10.14411/eje.2006.083

Phylogeny and evolutionary history of queen polymorphic Myrmecina ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Florian M. STEINER*,1,2, Birgit C. SCHLICK-STEINER**,1,2, Heino KONRAD1, Timothy A. LINKSVAYER3, Swee-Peck QUEK4, Erhard CHRISTIAN2, Christian STAUFFER1, Alfred BUSCHINGER5
1 Institute of Forest Entomology, Forest Pathology and Forest Protection, Department of Forest and Soil Sciences;
2 Institute of Zoology, Department of Integrative Biology and Biodiversity Research, Boku, University of Natural Resources & Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Gregor-Mendel-Str. 33, A-1180 Vienna, Austria; e-mail: brigit.florian@gmail.com
3 Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
4 Museum of Comparative Zoology, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
5 Rossbergring 18, D-64354 Reinheim, Germany

The phylogenetic relationships in the myrmicine ant genus Myrmecina were analyzed using 1,281 bp of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I gene. Intermorphic queens observed in M. graminicola (Europe), M. nipponica (Japan), M. americana (North America; reported for the first time) and M. sp. A (Java) were reconstructed as an ancestral trait in this genus. Molecular-clock-based age estimates suggest that queen polymorphism evolved in Myrmecina at the latest during the Miocene. In terms of biogeographical regions, the inferred chronological order of divergence is: (oriental, (nearctic, (western palearctic, eastern palearctic))).

Keywords: Formicidae, Myrmecina, intermorphic queens, queen polymorphism, mitochondrial DNA, cytochrome oxidase I, phylogeny, evolutionary history, historical biogeography

Received: January 31, 2006; Revised: March 3, 2006; Accepted: March 3, 2006; Published: July 3, 2006  Show citation

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STEINER, F.M., SCHLICK-STEINER, B.C., KONRAD, H., LINKSVAYER, T.A., QUEK, S., CHRISTIAN, E., STAUFFER, C., & BUSCHINGER, A. (2006). Phylogeny and evolutionary history of queen polymorphic Myrmecina ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). EJE, 103(3), 619-626. doi: 10.14411/eje.2006.083
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