title: Evolutionary history of the little fire ant Wasmannia auropunctata before global invasion: inferring dispersal patterns, niche requirements and past and present distribution within its native range.
abstract: The evolutionary history of invasive species within their native range may involve key processes that allow them to colonize new habitats. Therefore, phylogeographic studies of invasive species within their native ranges are useful to understand invasion biology in an evolutionary context. Here we integrated classical and Bayesian phylogeographic methods using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers with a palaeodistribution modelling approach, to infer the phylogeographic history of the invasive ant Wasmannia auropunctata across its native distribution in South America. We discuss our results in the context of the recent establishment of this mostly tropical species in the Mediterranean region. Our Bayesian phylogeographic analysis suggests that the common ancestor of the two main clades of W. auropunctata occurred in central Brazil during the Pliocene. Clade A would have differentiated northward and clade B southward, followed by a secondary contact beginning about 380,000 years ago in central South America. There were differences in the most suitable habitats among clades when considering three distinct climatic periods, suggesting that genetic differentiation was accompanied by changes in niche requirements, clade A being a tropical lineage and clade B a subtropical and temperate lineage. Only clade B reached more southern latitudes, with a colder climate than that of northern South America. This is concordant with the adaptation of this originally tropical ant species to temperate climates prior to its successful establishment in the Mediterranean region. This study highlights the usefulness of exploring the evolutionary history of invasive species within their native ranges to better understand biological invasions.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (EGE - FCEN - UBA) and IEGEBA (UBA - CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chifflet
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (EGE - FCEN - UBA) and IEGEBA (UBA - CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Rodriguero
authors.affiliation: Fundación para el Estudio de Especies Invasivas (FUEDEI), Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Calcaterra
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR1062, CBGP, Montpellier, France.|CNRS, USR2936, Station d'Ecologie Expérimentale du CNRS à Moulis, Moulis, France.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rey
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (EGE - FCEN - UBA) and IEGEBA (UBA - CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Dinghi
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Amazonas-UFAM, Coroado I, AM, Brazil.
authors.forename: F B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Baccaro
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Entomologia, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia-INPA, Manaus, AM, Brazil.
authors.forename: J L P
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4574-8111
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Souza
authors.affiliation: USDA-ARS, U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center, Hilo, HI, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Follett
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (EGE - FCEN - UBA) and IEGEBA (UBA - CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Confalonieri
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002980:Climate; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D017753:Ecosystem; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics; D006702:Homing Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D058865:Introduced Species
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D005819:Genetic Markers
keywords: Bayesian phylogeography; Pleistocene refugia; South America; biological invasion; invasive ant; mitochondrial DNA; range expansion; species distribution model