Originating most likely in the early Cretaceous, ants have diversified to become the world's
most successful eusocial insects, occupying most terrestrial ecosystems and acquiring a …

This study investigates the evolutionary history of a hyperdiverse clade, the ant subfamily M
yrmicinae (H ymenoptera: F ormicidae), based on analyses of a data matrix comprising 251 …

Correlation between gut microbiota and host phylogeny could reflect codiversification over
shared evolutionary history or a selective environment that is more similar in related hosts …

Nitrogen acquisition is a major challenge for herbivorous animals, and the repeated origins
of herbivory across the ants have raised expectations that nutritional symbionts have shaped …

Abstract Background Ultraconserved elements (UCEs) have been successfully used in
phylogenomics for a variety of taxa, but their power in phylogenetic inference has yet to be …

Evolutionary biologists have long predicted that evolutionary trade-offs among traits should
constrain morphological divergence and species diversification. However, this prediction …

Covering ancient geomorphological landscapes, and surrounded by some of the most
diverse forests on Earth, the Neotropical savannas were once perceived by naturalists as …

Aim To evaluate the extent to which ant species richness in Neotropical savannas varies
with macrogeographic variables, and to identify the potential climatic drivers of such …

Sustaining beneficial gut symbioses presents a major challenge for animals, including
holometabolous insects. Social insects may meet such challenges through partner fidelity …

Symbiotic bacteria play important roles in the biology of their arthropod hosts. Yet the
microbiota of many diverse and influential groups remain understudied, resulting in a …