A nuclear DNA based phylogeny of endemic sand dune ants of the genus Mycetophylax (Emery, 1913): How morphology is reflected in molecular data

• Autor(a) principal: Cardoso, Danon Clemes
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Cristiano, Maykon Passos, Heinze, Jürgen, Tavares, Mara Garcia
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: LOCUS Repositório Institucional da UFV
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2013.10.012; http://www.locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/18336
• topic: Formicidae; Attini; Molecular phylogeny; Evolution; Fungus-growing ants

Molecular methods have substantially advanced our knowledge about ant systematics in the past few years. Here, we infer the molecular phylogeny of sand dune ants of the genus Mycetophylax, Emery 1913 (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attini) using 730 base pairs of DNA sequences of the two nuclear genes longwave rhodopsin and wingless. Our analyses indicate that Mycetophylax is monophyletic, as suggested by its morphological characters. M. morschi, previously considered a species of Cyphomyrmex due to a scrobe-like impressed area on the head, forms a well-supported cluster with the two other species of Mycetophylax, M. conformis and M. simplex. Our analysis yields the first comprehensive phylogeny of Mycetophylax based on molecular data and includes specimens from localities within a wide distributional range as well as all species belonging to the genus following the recent taxonomic revision.