Convergent evolution of the army ant syndrome and congruence in big-data phylogenetics [article]

Marek L Borowiec
2017 bioRxiv   pre-print
The evolution of the suite of morphological and behavioral adaptations underlying the ecological success of army ants has been the subject of considerable debate. This "army ant syndrome" has been argued to have arisen once or multiple times within the ant subfamily Dorylinae. To address this question I generated data from 2,166 loci and a comprehensive taxon sampling for a phylogenetic investigation. Most analyses show strong support for convergent evolution of the army ant syndrome in the Old
more » ... and New World but certain relationships are sensitive to analytics. I examine the signal present in this data set and find that conflict is diminished when only loci less likely to violate common phylogenetic model assumptions are considered. I also provide a temporal and spatial context for doryline evolution with time-calibrated, biogeographic, and diversification rate shift analyses. This study underscores the need for cautious analysis of phylogenomic data and calls for more efficient algorithms employing better-fitting models of molecular evolution.
doi:10.1101/134064 fatcat:cbk7h5xjijbcpmo2ujoyxw7d6q