Citogenética de espécies de Attini (Formicidae: Myrmicinae)

• Autor(a) principal: Barros, Luísa Antônia Campos
• Data de Publicação: 2010
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: LOCUS Repositório Institucional da UFV
• Texto Completo: http://locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/4730
• topic: Citogenética; Attini; Evolução cromossômica; Cytogenetic; Attini; Chromosomal evolution; CNPQ::CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS::GENETICA::GENETICA ANIMAL

The tribe Attini consists of a monophyletic group that includes about 230 species in 14 genera. Different biological substrate are utilized by these ants for cultivation of the symbiotic fungus on which they feed and are necessarily dependent. This tribe includes the leaf-cutting ants (Atta Fabricius and Acromyrmex Mayr) that are known as important agricultural pests. The usage of cytogenetics in the family Formicidae has made significant contributions in the study of more than 750 ant species. Only 10% of Attini’s species have some sort of cytogenetic data available. This work aimed at cytogenetically studying six Acromyrmex species and seven species of the tribe Attini divided into four genera: Apterostigma Mayr, Mycocepurus Forel, Sericomyrmex Mayr and Trachymyrmex Forel. Some of the species were also submitted to banding techniques. The karyotypes observed were: Apterostigma madidiense Weber (n=23, 7m + 10sm + 5st + 1a), Apterostigma steigeri Santschi (2n=22, 20m + 2sm), Mycocepurus goeldii (2n=8, 4m + 4sm), Sericomyrmex sp. (2n=50, 44m + 6 sm; n=25, 22m + 3 sm), Trachymyrmex fuscus Emery (2n=18, 16m + 2sm; n=9, 8m + 1sm), Trachymyrmex relictus Borgmeier (2n=20m, n=10m) and Trachymyrmex sp. (2n=22, 18m + 4sm). A size polymorphism on a short arm of a submetacentric pair from Trachymyrmex fuscus was also pointed out. The possible causes of chromosomal segment duplication were discussed. All studied species of the genus Acromyrmex presented 2n=38. Each species showed a different karyotype in relation to morphology (A. balzani: 12m + 10sm + 14st + 2a; A. coronatus: 12m + 12sm + 12st + 2a; A. disciger: 10m + 12sm + 14st + 2a; A. niger: 12m + 18sm + 6st + 2a; A. rugosus: 16m + 12sm + 8st + 2a; A. echinatior: 8m + 6sm + 14st + 10a), in the distribution of heterocromatin (C banding) and GC rich regions (CMA3). For three species (A. coronatus, A. disciger, A. niger) the first subtelocentric pair was the bearer of ribosomal genes. Acromyrmex species presented stability in the number of chromosome with differences in the karyotype. The results suggest that many chromosomal rearrangements such as translocations, growth of heterochromatin and inversion may have occurred during their differentiation, contributing to the karyotype variability found.