DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Unraveling the Origin of Social Parasitism in Megalomyrmex Ants: A Phylogenetic Study Using Morphological and Molecular Characters

论文研究：揭示巨蚁社会寄生的起源：利用形态和分子特征的系统发育研究

• 批准号: 0508698
• 负责人: Ulrich Mueller
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-06-01 至 2008-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0508698&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Unraveling; Origin; Social

Social parasitism, the exploitation of a society by other social organisms, is awidespread phenomenon that has evolved independently numerous times withinmany social systems. The monophyletic Megalomyrmex genus is an excellentsystem to investigate how parasitism evolves in a social society. Using an integrativeapproach, phylogenic analysis will reveal the origins of social parasitism, whilebehavioral, ecological, and venom alkaloid information will help distinguish thecharacteristics necessary for social parasitism to evolve and be maintained. Thefollowing questions will be investigated: 1) Did social parasitism evolve once inthe Megalomyrmex genus? 2) Did social parasitism arise from behaviorsrelated to a primarily predatory lifestyle?Merit:By gathering these data the Megalomyrmex system will be comparable with otherparasite systems, and will thus broaden our understanding of the evolutionaryprocesses associated with the onset and maintenance of host-parasite associations.Impacts:This project will continue to incorporate undergraduate mentorship and training.Ongoing collaborations will strengthen ties between Brazilian and Americaninstitutions while expediting and developing this research. In addition, voucherspecimens have and will be deposited at one domestic and five foreign museums.These collaborations and associations will not only make the proposed researchfeasible but will effectively disseminate scientific knowledge.

社会寄生，即其他社会有机体对一个社会的剥削，是一种广泛存在的现象，在许多社会系统中已经独立进化了无数次。单系巨蚁属是研究寄生虫在群居社会中进化的一个很好的系统。使用综合方法，寄生虫发生学分析将揭示社会寄生的起源，而行为，生态和毒液生物碱信息将有助于区分社会寄生进化和维持所必需的特征。本研究将探讨以下问题：1）社会寄生在巨蚁属中是否曾经演化过？2)社会寄生是否源于与主要掠夺性生活方式相关的行为？优点：通过收集这些数据，Megalomyrmex系统将与其他寄生虫系统进行比较，从而拓宽我们对宿主-寄生虫协会的发生和维持相关的进化过程的理解。影响：该项目将继续纳入本科生导师和培训。正在进行的合作将加强巴西和美国机构之间的联系，同时加快和发展这项研究。此外，凭证标本已经并将存放在一个国内博物馆和五个国外博物馆。这些合作和协会不仅使拟议的研究可行，而且将有效地传播科学知识。