title: Global phylogenetic structure of the hyperdiverse ant genus Pheidole reveals the repeated evolution of macroecological patterns.
abstract: Adaptive radiations are of particular interest owing to what they reveal about the ecological and evolutionary regulation of biodiversity. This applies to localized island radiations such as Darwin's finches, and also to rapid radiations occurring on a global scale. Here we analyse the macroevolution and macroecology of Pheidole, a famously hyperdiverse and ecologically dominant ant genus. We generate and analyse four novel datasets: (i) a robust global phylogeny including 285 Pheidole species, (ii) a global database on regional Pheidole richness in 365 political areas summarizing over 97 000 individual records from more than 6500 studies, (iii) a global database of Pheidole richness from 3796 local communities and (iv) a database of Pheidole body sizes across species. Analysis of the potential climate drivers of richness revealed that the patterns are statistically very similar across different biogeographic regions, with both regional and local richness associated with the same coefficients of temperature and precipitation. This similarity occurs even though phylogenetic analysis shows that Pheidole reached dominance in communities through serial localized radiations into different biomes within different continents and islands. Pheidole body size distributions have likewise converged across geographical regions. We propose these cases of convergence indicate that the global radiation of Pheidole is structured by deterministic factors regulating diversification and diversity.
authors.affiliation: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son 904-0495, Japan Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, 830 N University Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48701, USA economo@oist.jp.
authors.forename: Evan P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Economo
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, 830 N University Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48701, USA Tyumen State University, 10 Semakova St., Tyumen 625003, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Klimov
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 320 Morrill Hall, 505 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Eli M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Sarnat
authors.affiliation: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son 904-0495, Japan.
authors.forename: Benoit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Guénard
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Oklahoma, 730 Van Vleet Oval, Norman, OK 73019, USA.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Weiser
authors.affiliation: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son 904-0495, Japan.
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lecroq
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, 830 N University Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48701, USA.
authors.forename: L Lacey
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Knowles
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D049628:Body Size; D002980:Climate; D017753:Ecosystem; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D019476:Insect Proteins
keywords: body size; diversification; formicidae; phylogenetic niche conservatism; radiation; species richness