Phylogeography of the ant Myrmica rubra and its inquiline social parasite.

ABSTRACT: Widely distributed Palearctic insects are ideal to study phylogeographic patterns owing to their high potential to survive in many Pleistocene refugia and-after the glaciation-to recolonize vast, continuous areas. Nevertheless, such species have received little phylogeographic attention. Here, we investigated the Pleistocene refugia and subsequent postglacial colonization of the common, abundant, and widely distributed ant Myrmica rubra over most of its Palearctic area, using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The western and eastern populations of M. rubra belonged predominantly to separate haplogroups, which formed a broad secondary contact zone in Central Europe. The distribution of genetic diversity and haplogroups implied that M. rubra survived the last glaciation in multiple refugia located

SUBMITTER: Leppanen J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3287377 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature