Studies on Ant Taxonomy and Phylogeny

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This project involves three related areas of research on ant systematics. (1) Species-level revisionary work will continue on the subfamily Pseudomyrmecinae, a pantropical group with more than 300 species, many of which are involved in mutualistic interactions with plants. (2) The evolution of ant-plant mutualisms will be examined by phylogenetic and comparative biological studies of pseudomyrmecine lineages associated with domatia-bearing plants. (3) The phylogenetic relationships among the ant subfamilies will be investigated by a comprehensive survey of character variation (in all castes) and a detailed cladistic analysis. The proposed taxonomic and phylogenetic studies of pseudomyrmecine ants will improve our understanding of an important group of tropical ants, and contribute insight into the origin and maintenance of ant-plant symbioses. A well- corroborated phylogeny of the ant subfamilies will provide a valuable framework for comparative studies of ant biology.