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Barry Bolton

Bio: Barry Bolton is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Tetramoriini & Vespoidea. The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 8 publications receiving 556 citations.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The attine ant-fungus mutualism probably arose from adventitious interactions with fungi that grew on walls of nests built in leaf litter, or from a system of fungal myrmecochory in which specialized fungi relied on ants for dispersal and in which the ants fortuitously vectored these fungi from parent to offspring nests prior to a true fungicultural stage.
Abstract: Cultivation of fungus for food originated about 45-65 million years ago in the ancestor of fungus-growing ants (Formicidae, tribe Attini), representing an evolutionary transition from the life of a hunter-gatherer of arthropod prey, nectar, and other plant juices, to the life of a farmer subsisting on cultivated fungi. Seven hypotheses have been suggested for the origin of attine fungiculture, each differing with respect to the substrate used by the ancestral attine ants for fungal cultivation. Phylogenetic information on the cultivated fungi, in conjunction with information on the nesting biology of extant attine ants and their presumed closest relatives, reveal that the attine ancestors probably did not encounter their cultivars-to-be in seed stores (von Ihering 1894), in rotting wood (Forel 1902), as mycorrhizae (Garling 1979), on arthropod corpses (von Ihering 1894) or ant faeces in nest middens (Wheeler 1907). Rather, the attine ant-fungus mutualism probably arose from adventitious interactions with ...

313 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the evolutionary history of a hyperdiverse clade, the ant subfamily Myrmicinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), based on analyses of a data matrix comprising 251 species and 11 nuclear gene fragments.
Abstract: This study investigates the evolutionary history of a hyperdiverse clade, the ant subfamily Myrmicinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), based on analyses of a data matrix comprising 251 species and 11 nuclear gene fragments. Under both maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods of inference, we recover a robust phylogeny that reveals six major clades of Myrmicinae, here treated as newly defined tribes and occur- ring as a pectinate series: Myrmicini, Pogonomyrmecini trib.n., Stenammini, Solenop- sidini, Attini and Crematogastrini. Because we condense the former 25 myrmicine tribes into a new six-tribe scheme, membership in some tribes is now notably different, espe- cially regarding Attini. We demonstrate that the monotypic genus Ankylomyrma is nei- ther in the Myrmicinae nor even a member of the more inclusive formicoid clade - rather it is a poneroid ant, sister to the genus Tatuidris (Agroecomyrmecinae). Several species-rich myrmicine genera are shown to be nonmonophyletic, including Pogono- myrmex, Aphaenogaster, Messor, Monomorium, Pheidole, Temnothorax andTetramor- ium. We propose a number of generic synonymies to partially alleviate these problems (senior synonym listed first): Pheidole = Anisopheidole syn.n. = Machomyrma syn.n.; Temnothorax = Chalepoxenus syn.n. = Myrmoxenus syn.n. = Protomognathus syn.n.; Tetramorium = Rhoptromyrmex syn.n. = Anergates syn.n. = Teleutomyrmex syn.n. The genus Veromessor stat.r. is resurrected for the New World species previously placed in Messor; Syllophopsis stat.r. is resurrected from synonymy under Monomorium to contain the species in the hildebrandti group;Trichomyrmex stat.r. is resurrected from synonymy underMonomorium to contain the species in the scabriceps- anddestruc- tor-groups; and the monotypic genus Epelysidris stat.r. is reinstated for Monomorium brocha. Bayesian divergence dating indicates that the crown group Myrmicinae origi- nated about 98.6 Ma (95% highest probability density 87.9-109.6 Ma) but the six major clades are considerably younger, with age estimates ranging from 52.3 to 71.1 Ma. Although these and other suprageneric taxa arose mostly in the middle Eocene or earlier, a number of prominent, species-rich genera, such as Pheidole, Cephalotes, Strumigenys, Crematogaster andTetramorium, have estimated crown group origins in the late Eocene or Oligocene. Most myrmicine species diversity resides in the two sister clades, Attini and Crematogastrini, which are estimated to have originated and diversified extensively in the Neotropics and Paleotropics, respectively. The newly circumscribed Myrmicini is Holarctic in distribution, and ancestral range estimation suggests a Nearctic origin. The Pogonomyrmecini and Solenopsidini are reconstructed as being Neotropical in origin,

312 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work focuses on the characteristics of fission in the phylogenetically primitive ants Ponerinae in which both ergatoid queens and gamergates occur.
Abstract: ▪ Abstract Social Hymenoptera show two contrasting strategies of colony reproduction. A reproductive female can raise the first generation of brood alone (independent foundation), or a colony can divide into autonomous parts in which the reproductive female is helped by sterile relatives (fission, budding, swarming). In independent-founding ants, queens can histolize their flight muscles after dispersal; in many species, large flight muscles and metabolic reserves reduce or eliminate the need for risky foraging trips during the vulnerable solitary stage. Colony division is a derived strategy, and we review the selective pressures leading to its occurrence in the different social taxa. In various ants, fission coexists with independent foundation, and alate queens are retained. However, in ants exhibiting obligate fission (e.g. all army ants and many Ponerinae), queens are permanently wingless (ergatoid), or the queen caste is missing altogether. When reproductive females are flightless, dispersal distance...

227 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It seems likely that unicolonial ant populations are family groups that continue to express their kin-selected behavior as they grow to extreme sizes, a prediction that is supported by their twiggy phylogenetic distribution.
Abstract: Unicolonial ant populations are the most extensive cooperative units known in nature, forming networks of interconnected nests extending sometimes hundreds of kilometers. Within such a supercolony, worker altruistic behavior might be maladaptive, because it seems to aid random members of the population instead of relatives. However, recent genetic and behavioral data show that, viewed on a sufficiently large scale, unicolonial ants do have colony boundaries that define very large kin groups. It seems likely that they are family groups that continue to express their kin-selected behavior as they grow to extreme sizes. However, at extreme sizes, kin selection theory predicts that these behaviors are maladapted and evolutionarily unstable, a prediction that is supported by their twiggy phylogenetic distribution.

190 citations

DOI
01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: Aunque el libro procura tomar varios temas criticos (ecologia, relaciones con plantas, mosaicos), debido a limites de espacio necesariamente excluye otros temas.
Abstract: Aunque el libro procura tomar varios temas criticos (ecologia, relaciones con plantas, mosaicos), debido a limites de espacio necesariamente excluye otros temas. En parte estos temas se pueden encontrar en libros como The Ants de Holldobler y Wilson (1990) y Ants: Standard methods editado por Agosti et al. (2000). Aun asi, se espera que el libro tenga utilidad por largo tiempo, hasta que los siempre cambiantes temas en biologia de hormigas permitan y favorezcan una segunda edicion, o hasta que otros mirmecologos colegas puedan editar y lanzar un nuevo texto que recoja los muchos cambios que ocurriran en los proximos anos. Sigue a continuacion una breve sinopsis de las partes y capitulos que comprenden el libro.

183 citations