Worker size variation and the evolution of an ant-plant mutualism: Comparative morphometrics of workers of two closely related plant-ants, Petalomyrmex phylax and Aphomomyrmex afer (Formicinae)

L. Meunier A. Dalecky 1 C. Berticat 2 Laurence Gaume 3 D. Mckey 4
1 UMR CBGP - Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations
2 UMR ISEM - Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier
3 UMR AMAP - Botanique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations
4 CEFE - Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive
Abstract : We compared intranidal variation in worker size in the two closely related plant-ants Aphomomyrmex afer and Petalomyrmex phylax. Each of these genera is monotypic, and the two appear to be sister species among extant ants. Workers of A. afer are larger on average and exhibit much greater intranidal size variation. Workers of P. phylax are smaller and much less variable in size. Both species show weak allometry for some pairs of characters. Head shape is also different in workers of the two species. We discuss these differences in relation to the ecology of A. aferand P. phylax, and propose a scenario for the evolutionary divergence of worker morphology in these two species. Based on comparisons of these two monotypic genera with related ants, we suggest that reduced intranidal variation in worker size is a derived trait in Petalomyrmex.
Keywords : mutualism morphometrics ant-plant interaction Worker polymorphism
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https://hal.umontpellier.fr/hal-02390082
Contributeur : Laurence Gaume <>
Soumis le : lundi 2 décembre 2019 - 18:24:24
Dernière modification le : jeudi 20 février 2020 - 19:23:00

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UNIV-MONTPELLIER | UNIV-MONTP3 | INRA | CEFE | AGROPOLIS | CIRAD | B3ESTE | ISEM | AMAP | EPHE | PSL | CNRS | MONTPELLIER-SUPAGRO

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L. Meunier, A. Dalecky, C. Berticat, Laurence Gaume, D. Mckey. Worker size variation and the evolution of an ant-plant mutualism: Comparative morphometrics of workers of two closely related plant-ants, Petalomyrmex phylax and Aphomomyrmex afer (Formicinae). Insectes Sociaux, Springer Verlag, 1999, 46 (2), pp.171-178. ⟨10.1007/s000400050129⟩. ⟨hal-02390082⟩

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