Ayala F J, Wetterer J K, Longino J T, Hartl D L
Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Mol Phylogenet Evol. 1996 Apr;5(2):423-8. doi: 10.1006/mpev.1996.0037.
Despite the prominence of the Azteca-Cecropia interaction as the focus of extensive ecological investigation, a reliable phylogeny of the Azteca ants has been lacking, primarily because many of the morphological and behavioral characters are phylogenetically uninformative or conflicting. A phylogenetic analysis of a select set of Azteca ants, including six Cecropia inhabitants and two non-Cecropia inhabitants, plus an outgroup taxon, is presented on the basis of mitochondrial DNA sequences. The evolutionary relationships deduced from the molecular data are analyzed with reference to ecological and morphological studies, specifically addressing the phylogenetic relationship of structurally an behaviorally ambiguous taxa, species complex groupings, and the colonization of Cecropia trees. According to the molecular phylogeny, the Cecropia-inhabiting Azteca do not form a monophyletic clade, indicating multiple independent colonization or abandonment of Cecropia trees by the Azteca.
尽管阿兹特克蚁与蚁栖树之间的相互作用作为广泛生态研究的焦点备受关注，但一直缺乏可靠的阿兹特克蚁系统发育树，主要是因为许多形态和行为特征在系统发育上缺乏信息或相互冲突。基于线粒体DNA序列，对一组选定的阿兹特克蚁进行了系统发育分析，其中包括六种蚁栖树栖息蚁和两种非蚁栖树栖息蚁，外加一个外类群分类单元。根据分子数据推断出的进化关系，结合生态和形态学研究进行分析，特别关注结构和行为模糊的分类单元的系统发育关系、物种复合体分组以及蚁栖树的定殖情况。根据分子系统发育，栖息于蚁栖树的阿兹特克蚁并未形成一个单系类群，这表明阿兹特克蚁对蚁栖树的定殖或放弃是多次独立发生的。
