Southern expansion of the invasive ant Wasmannia auropunctata within its native range and its relation with clonality and human activity.

ABSTRACT: The little fire ant Wasmannia auropunctata, native to the Neotropics, has become a serious pest worldwide over the past 100 years. It was originally distributed from Mexico to northern Argentina and new evidence suggests a recent southern range expansion during the last 60 years reaching central Argentina. This supercolonial ant species has a polymorphic reproductive system. Some populations, mostly found in undisturbed natural environments, are characterised by a classical sexual haplodiploid reproductive system. In other populations, which mainly occur in human-modified habitats, diploid queens and haploid males are produced clonally while workers are produced sexually. Here we studied the association between the recent southern range expansion of W. auropunctata in relation to human act

SUBMITTER: Chifflet L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6248933 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature