TY - JOUR
T1 - Acromyrmex fowleri
T2 - a new inquiline social parasite species of leaf-cutting ants from South America, with a discussion of social parasite biogeography in the Neotropical region
AU - Rabeling, C.
AU - Messer, S.
AU - Lacau, S.
AU - do Nascimento, I. C.
AU - Bacci, M.
AU - Delabie, J. H.C.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are especially grateful to Marcelo Schlindwein, Clayton and Simon R. Delabie, Gideval J. Carvalho (“Zom”), Peters Langlands, Meredith Cobb, and Katie Watkins for their help with collecting large quantities of alate ants along the beaches of Ilhéus on several occasions, generating the information about the nuptial flight activity of the social parasite and its host. We gratefully acknowledge the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), the Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (IBAMA), and the ICMBio for permission to conduct fieldwork in Brazil. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the US National Science Foundation (NSF DEB-1456964 & DEB-1654829 to CR), FAPESP (2011/50226-0 and 2014/25507-3 to MB), and CNPq (309611/2015-6 and 409721/2016-6 to MB; 307128/2014-8 to JHCD).
Funding Information:
We are especially grateful to Marcelo Schlindwein, Clayton and Simon R. Delabie, Gideval J. Carvalho (?Zom?), Peters Langlands, Meredith Cobb, and Katie Watkins for their help with collecting large quantities of alate ants along the beaches of Ilh?us on several occasions, generating the information about the nuptial flight activity of the social parasite and its host. We gratefully acknowledge the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico (CNPq), the Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renov?veis (IBAMA), and the ICMBio for permission to conduct fieldwork in Brazil. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the US National Science Foundation (NSF DEB-1456964 & DEB-1654829 to CR), FAPESP (2011/50226-0 and 2014/25507-3 to MB), and CNPq (309611/2015-6 and 409721/2016-6 to MB; 307128/2014-8 to JHCD).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI).
PY - 2019/8/1
Y1 - 2019/8/1
N2 - Ant inquiline social parasites obligately depend on their hosts for survival and reproduction. Because of their shift from a eusocial to a socially parasitic life history, inquiline social parasites are interesting study systems for exploring the dynamics between conflict and cooperation in eusocial insect colonies. In addition, inquiline social parasites are of interest to evolutionary biology, because some species evolved directly from their hosts via sympatric speciation. With five described species, inquiline social parasites are relatively diverse in the fungus-growing ants. So far, four species have been reported from the leaf-cutting ant genus Acromyrmex and its closely affiliated social parasite genus Pseudoatta. In contrast, only a single parasite species was described from the lower attine genus Mycocepurus. Here, we describe a new species of inquiline social parasite, Acromyrmex fowleri sp. nov., which was discovered 27 years ago in the tropical region of Brazil (State of Bahia), living inside the colonies of its host Acromyrmex rugosus. We also report observations on the behavioral ecology and natural history of A. fowleri and its host. Our study suggests that A. fowleri is an obligate, queen-tolerant, workerless inquiline social parasite of A. rugosus and that A. fowleri represents some but not all morphological and life history characters of the inquiline syndrome, supporting the hypothesis that the complex traits of the inquiline syndrome evolve in a mosaic fashion. Considering that A. fowleri is a new social parasite species from tropical Brazil, we discuss the paradoxical biogeographic distribution of ant social parasites, which we refer to as the “Kutter–Wilson Paradox”, and conclude that the Kutter–Wilson Paradox is a genuine biogeographical pattern, instead of being a mere sampling artifact.
AB - Ant inquiline social parasites obligately depend on their hosts for survival and reproduction. Because of their shift from a eusocial to a socially parasitic life history, inquiline social parasites are interesting study systems for exploring the dynamics between conflict and cooperation in eusocial insect colonies. In addition, inquiline social parasites are of interest to evolutionary biology, because some species evolved directly from their hosts via sympatric speciation. With five described species, inquiline social parasites are relatively diverse in the fungus-growing ants. So far, four species have been reported from the leaf-cutting ant genus Acromyrmex and its closely affiliated social parasite genus Pseudoatta. In contrast, only a single parasite species was described from the lower attine genus Mycocepurus. Here, we describe a new species of inquiline social parasite, Acromyrmex fowleri sp. nov., which was discovered 27 years ago in the tropical region of Brazil (State of Bahia), living inside the colonies of its host Acromyrmex rugosus. We also report observations on the behavioral ecology and natural history of A. fowleri and its host. Our study suggests that A. fowleri is an obligate, queen-tolerant, workerless inquiline social parasite of A. rugosus and that A. fowleri represents some but not all morphological and life history characters of the inquiline syndrome, supporting the hypothesis that the complex traits of the inquiline syndrome evolve in a mosaic fashion. Considering that A. fowleri is a new social parasite species from tropical Brazil, we discuss the paradoxical biogeographic distribution of ant social parasites, which we refer to as the “Kutter–Wilson Paradox”, and conclude that the Kutter–Wilson Paradox is a genuine biogeographical pattern, instead of being a mere sampling artifact.
KW - Attini
KW - Biogeography
KW - Formicidae
KW - Fungus-growing ants
KW - Inquilinism
KW - Kutter–Wilson Paradox
KW - Latitudinal diversity gradient
KW - Myrmecosymbiosis
KW - Social parasitism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85066043371&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85066043371&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00040-019-00705-z
DO - 10.1007/s00040-019-00705-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85066043371
SN - 0020-1812
VL - 66
SP - 435
EP - 451
JO - Insectes Sociaux
JF - Insectes Sociaux
IS - 3
ER -