Macroevolutionary integration of phenotypes within and across ant worker castes.

ABSTRACT: Phenotypic traits are often integrated into evolutionary modules: sets of organismal parts that evolve together. In social insect colonies, the concepts of integration and modularity apply to sets of traits both within and among functionally and phenotypically differentiated castes. On macroevolutionary timescales, patterns of integration and modularity within and across castes can be clues to the selective and ecological factors shaping their evolution and diversification. We develop a set of hypotheses describing contrasting patterns of worker integration and apply this framework in a broad (246 species) comparative analysis of major and minor worker evolution in the hyperdiverse ant genus Pheidole. Using geometric morphometrics in a phylogenetic framework, we inferred fast and ti

SUBMITTER: Friedman NR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7487254 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature