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

社会寄生是指其他社会有机体对一个社会的剥削，是一种在许多社会系统中独立进化了无数次的普遍现象。单系的大蝇属是研究寄生在社会中如何进化的一个很好的系统。采用综合的方法，系统发育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。以下问题将被研究：1)大蝇属的社会寄生是否进化过一次？2)社会寄生是否起源于与主要的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，从而扩大我们对与宿主-寄生虫关联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指导和培训。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，代金券标本已经并将存放在一家国内博物馆和五家国外博物馆。这些合作和协会不仅将使拟议的研究可行，而且将有效地传播科学知识。

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.