Molecular phylogenetic analysis and morphological reassessments of thief ants identify a new potential case of biological invasions.

ABSTRACT: Species delimitation offered by DNA-based approaches can provide important insights into the natural history and diversity of species, but the cogency of such processes is limited without multigene phylogenies. Recent attempts to barcode various Solenopsidini ant taxa (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae), including the thief ant Solenopsis saudiensis Sharaf & Aldawood, 2011 described from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), were precipitated by the unexpected existence of a closely related species, the Nearctic S. abdita Thompson, 1989 within the S. molesta species complex native to Florida. This finding left the species status of the former uncertain. Here, we investigated the taxonomy and phylogeny of these two species to determine whether or not S. abdita represents a new global tramp s

SUBMITTER: Sharaf MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7374620 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature