Molecular phylogeny and historical biogeography of the neotropical swarm-founding social wasp genus Synoeca (Hymenoptera: Vespidae).

ABSTRACT: The Neotropical Region harbors high biodiversity and many studies on mammals, reptiles, amphibians and avifauna have investigated the causes for this pattern. However, there is a paucity of such studies that focus on Neotropical insect groups. Synoeca de Saussure, 1852 is a Neotropical swarm-founding social wasp genus with five described species that is broadly and conspicuously distributed throughout the Neotropics. Here, we infer the phylogenetic relationships, diversification times, and historical biogeography of Synoeca species. We also investigate samples of the disjoint populations of S. septentrionalis that occur in both northwestern parts of South America through Central American and the Brazilian Atlantic rainforests. Our results showed that the interspecific relationships for Syn

SUBMITTER: Menezes RS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4349807 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature