The diminutive supercolony: the Argentine ants of the southeastern United States

Molecular Ecology
Grzegorz BuczkowskiJules Silverman

Abstract

Native to Argentina and Brazil, the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) is an invasive species that has become established on six continents and many oceanic islands. In several parts of its introduced range, including the western United States, southern Europe and Chile, the Argentine ant is unicolonial, forming extensive supercolonies. We examined population genetic structure and intercolony aggression in two regions of the introduced range of this species in the United States: California and the southeastern United States. Our results show that the southeastern L. humile population has high genotypic variability and strong intercolony aggression relative to the California population. In the California population, intercolony aggression was absent and 23 alleles were found across seven polymorphic microsatellite loci. However, in the Southeast, aggression between colonies was high and 47 alleles were present across the same seven loci in an equal number of colonies. We suggest that distinctly different colonization patterns for California and the Southeast may be responsible for the striking disparity in the genetic diversity of introduced populations. Southeastern colonies may have descended from multiple, independent introdu...Continue Reading

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Citations

May 20, 2009·Oecologia·Alexei D Rowles, Jules Silverman
Jul 18, 2009·Journal of Chemical Ecology·Gissella M VásquezJules Silverman
Sep 20, 2007·Annual Review of Entomology·Jules Silverman, Robert John Brightwell
Sep 13, 2007·PloS One·Amro ZayedLaurence Packer
Nov 6, 2014·Journal of Insect Science·Benjamin D Hoffmann, Henry Hagedorn
Jun 17, 2008·The American Naturalist·A V SuarezN D Tsutsui
Jan 19, 2012·Environmental Entomology·Robert J Brightwell, Jules Silverman
Jan 5, 2008·Molecular Ecology·Andrew V Suarez, Neil D Tsutsui
May 1, 2011·Evolutionary Applications·Elissa L SuhrDuncan A Mackay
Jul 1, 2014·Journal of Evolutionary Biology·P KennedyH Helanterä
Mar 31, 2009·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·Heikki HelanteräDavid C Queller
Oct 31, 2006·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Núria Roura-PascualA Townsend Peterson
Dec 31, 2018·BMC Evolutionary Biology·Pierre-André EyerEdward L Vargo
Feb 8, 2021·Current Opinion in Insect Science·Pierre-André Eyer, Edward L Vargo
Apr 1, 2008·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Gissella M VásquezJules Silverman

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