IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v3y2012i1d10.1038_ncomms1844.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Symbiont fidelity and the origin of species in fungus-growing ants

Author

Listed:
  • Natasha J. Mehdiabadi

    (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, PO Box 37012
    4112 Plant Sciences Building, University of Maryland, College Park)

  • Ulrich G. Mueller

    (Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas
    Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)

  • Seán G. Brady

    (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, PO Box 37012)

  • Anna G. Himler

    (Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas
    University of Arizona)

  • Ted R. Schultz

    (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, PO Box 37012
    4112 Plant Sciences Building, University of Maryland, College Park)

Abstract

A major problem in evolutionary biology is explaining the success of mutualism. Solving this problem requires understanding the level of fidelity between interacting partners. Recent studies have proposed that fungus-growing ants and their fungal cultivars are the products of 'diffuse' coevolution, in which single ant and fungal species are not exclusive to one another. Here we show for ants and associated fungi in the Cyphomyrmex wheeleri species group that each ant species has been exclusively associated with a single fungal cultivar 'species' for millions of years, even though alternative cultivars are readily available, and that rare shifts to new cultivars are associated with ant speciation. Such long-term partner fidelity may have facilitated 'tight' ant–fungus coevolution, and shifts to new fungal cultivars may have had a role in the origin of new ant species.

Suggested Citation

  • Natasha J. Mehdiabadi & Ulrich G. Mueller & Seán G. Brady & Anna G. Himler & Ted R. Schultz, 2012. "Symbiont fidelity and the origin of species in fungus-growing ants," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 3(1), pages 1-7, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:3:y:2012:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms1844
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1844
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1844
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms1844?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:3:y:2012:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms1844. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.