Verification of Indian refugium hypothesis by analyzing phylogeography of ants, widely distributed in Asia

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Phylogeography of Oecophylla smaragdina and Anoplolepis gracilipes was inferred from analyses of mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite DNA. O. smaragdina showed that. Indian populations were phylogenetically different from South-Eastern populations distributed up to Bangladesh, indicating that there had been a refuge rainforest in southwestern India from which the present populations had dispersed to northern and eastern India. On the other hand, the phylogenetically close ant A. gracilipes did not show clear phylogeography, indicating the current disturbance by human being. The DNA analyses and ecological studies of this invasive species suggest that the variation of their impact on different island ecosystems is not due to the population-specific genetics but to the island-specific ecosystems.