Genome and cuticular hydrocarbon-based species delimitation shed light on potential drivers of speciation in a Neotropical ant species complex.

ABSTRACT: Geographic separation that leads to the evolution of reproductive isolation between populations generally is considered the most common form of speciation. However, speciation may also occur in the absence of geographic barriers due to phenotypic and genotypic factors such as chemical cue divergence, mating signal divergence, and mitonuclear conflict. Here, we performed an integrative study based on two genome-wide techniques (3RAD and ultraconserved elements) coupled with cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) and mitochondrial (mt) DNA sequence data, to assess the species limits within the Ectatomma ruidum species complex, a widespread and conspicuous group of Neotropical ants for which heteroplasmy (i.e., presence of multiple mtDNA variants in an individual) has been recently discovered in

SUBMITTER: Meza-Lazaro RN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8928884 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature