Hohenheim doctoral student publishes research results on bulldog ants [07.11.23]
Scientific questions about changes in social behavior and biogeographical distribution answered
Daniela Mera-Rodríguez works with bulldog ants within KomBioTa. (Foto: Ypna at en.wikipedia, Winged bulldog ant (Myrmecia) in Kialla, Australia - 20100312, CC BY-SA 3.0.)
Daniela Mera-Rodríguez, a doctoral student at the Department of Integrative Taxonomy of Insects, headed by Prof. Christian Rabeling, is researching the evolution of bulldog ant species. In her most recent study, she focused on the species-rich ant genus Myrmecia, which is represented by 92 species in Australia. Only one species, Myrmecia apicalis, occurs outside the Australian continent on New Caledonia, a group of islands to the east of Australia.
In her work, the young biologist investigated the change in the social behavior of a parasitic species, Myrmecia inquilina, which has abandoned cooperative colony life and developed into a socially parasitic species. Another scientifically unexplained phenomenon was the biogeographical spread of a single species from the mainland to a New Caledonian archipelago. So far, there has only been speculation about this. In order to clarify these phenomena scientifically, the researcher, in collaboration with colleagues from Australia, New Caledonia and the USA, reconstructed the evolution of the ant subfamily Myrmeciinae using genomic markers and compiled a comprehensive data set.
The results of her research had been published in Daniela Mera-Rodriguez’ article Biogeography and evolution of social parasitism in Australian Myrmecia bulldog ants revealed by phylogenomics in the internationally renowned journal Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution.
She gave additional insights into her scientific approach in an interview with the entomology blog https://blog.myrmecologicalnews.org.
Publication
Daniela Mera Rodríguez, Hervé Jourdan, Philip S. Ward, Steven Shattuck, Stefan P. Cover, Edward O. Wilson, Christian Rabeling (2023): Biogeography and evolution of social parasitism in Australian Myrmecia bulldog ants revealed by phylogenomics. In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 186 (2942–2947), 107825.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107825
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