Mycocepurus goeldii

Mycocepurus goeldii is a species of ant in the genus Mycocepurus.[1]

Mycocepurus goeldii
M. goeldii worker
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Hymenoptera
Family:
Formicidae
Subfamily:
Myrmicinae
Tribe:
Attini
Genus:
Mycocepurus
Species:
M. goeldii
Binomial name
Mycocepurus goeldii
(Forel, 1893)

The species is parasitised by a closely related species, Mycocepurus castrator.[2] The two diverged recently, around 37,000 years ago, and evolved in the same geographic region, making the parasite–host pair an example of sympatric speciation.[3]

M. castrator is directly descended from M. goeldii, its host. Such relationships are not uncommon among social parasites, as recognized by Emery's rule. Less common are cases like M. castrator's, where two species diverge without the benefit of geographic isolation, known as sympatric speciation. Rabeling et al. (2014) analyzed divergence of mitochondrial versus nuclear DNA, finding that the nuclear alleles bore more similarities than the mitochondrial alleles. This led them to rule out the possibility of recent interbreeding, and conclude that sympatric speciation had occurred. The two species are believed to have diverged around 37,000 years ago, during the late Pleistocene.[3]

References
  1. "Species: Mycocepurus goeldii". antweb.org. AntWeb. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  2. "Discovery: Deadbeat ant species branched off as parasite inside its own colony". Smithsonian Science. 21 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  3. Rabeling, Christian; Schultz, Ted R.; Pierce, Naomi E.; Bacci Jr., Maurício (21 August 2014). "A Social Parasite Evolved Reproductive Isolation from Its Fungus-Growing Ant Host in Sympatry". Current Biology. Cell Press. 24 (17): 2047–2052. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.07.048. PMID 25155509.
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