''Mycocepurus goeldii'' is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of ant in the genus ''
Mycocepurus''.
The species is
parasitised by a closely related species, ''
Mycocepurus castrator''.
The two diverged recently, around 37,000 years ago, and evolved in the same geographic region, making the parasite–host pair an example of
sympatric speciation.
''M. castrator'' is directly descended from ''M. goeldii'', its
host. Such relationships are not uncommon among social parasites, as recognized by
Emery's rule
In 1909, the entomologist Carlo Emery noted that social parasites among insects (e.g., kleptoparasites) tend to be parasites of species or genera to which they are closely related.Emery, C. "Über den Ursprung der dulotischen, parasitischen und m ...
. Less common are cases like ''M. castrators, where two species diverge without the benefit of geographic isolation, known as
sympatric speciation. Rabeling ''et al.'' (2014) analyzed divergence of
mitochondrial versus
nuclear DNA, finding that the nuclear
allele
An allele (, ; ; modern formation from Greek ἄλλος ''állos'', "other") is a variation of the same sequence of nucleotides at the same place on a long DNA molecule, as described in leading textbooks on genetics and evolution.
::"The chro ...
s bore more similarities than the mitochondrial alleles. This led them to rule out the possibility of recent
interbreeding
In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, varieties, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Hybrids are not always intermediates between their parents (such as in ...
, and conclude that sympatric speciation had occurred. The two species are believed to have diverged around 37,000 years ago, during the late
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
.
References
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q13867042
Myrmicinae
Fauna of Brazil
Hymenoptera of South America
Insects described in 1893