DNA BARCODING OF FIRE ANTS AND THIEF ANTS (GENUS SOLENOPSIS) OF THE ECUADORIAN ANDES AS A TOOL FOR BIODIVERSITY RESEARCH SONET, G. (1), Nagy, Z. T. (1), Jacquemin, J. (2), Wauters, N. (2), Delsinne, T. (2), Leponce, M. (2) (1) Joint Experimental Molecular Unit, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels & Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium (2) Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences & Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium Lightning Talk, Barcoding Insects 2, Napier 208, Friday, 15:00 to 15:07 Poster Location: B25 Members of the genus Solenopsis are among the most abundant ants in tropical rainforests. They are represented by more than 200 described species worldwide and some are dreadful invasive species. The identification to the species level is hampered by a dearth of diagnostic morphological characters and represents a serious limitative step in biodiversity inventories and in the study of invasive species. We set up and validated a DNA barcoding procedure to identify ants of the genus Solenopsis collected in the Podocarpus National Park of the Ecuadorian Andes. Complete specimens were used for DNA extraction and subsequently preserved as vouchers to allow further morphological analysis. More than 14 new molecular operational taxonomic units were identified by the standard DNA barcode fragment. In some cases specimens from a single morpho-species occurring at different altitudes could be distinguished. This study resulted in an appropriate laboratory protocol and a reference library useful to identify ants of the genus Solenopsis in the Ecuadorian Andes.
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Perissodactyls make their first appearance in the fossil record during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), 56 Ma ago, at the same time as most modern placental mammal orders. However, their early diversification remains unclear since all main groups (Equidae, Isectolophidae, Ceratomorpha, Ancylopoda and Brontotheriidae) appear at the same time with numerous genera and are already diverse, contrary to other modern mammal orders, which have a much lower diversity. Moreover, several early perissodactyl genera seem endemic to each of the three Holarctic continents, rather than cosmopolitan as is the case for other mammal groups. We investigate the early evolution of perissodactyls by analyzing a new dataset focusing on early species to obtain a new expansive phylogeny. This large-scale phylogeny shows that the number of early perissodactyl genera was over-estimated and supports the synonymy of several genera. In addition, many species that were named as “Hyracotherium” in the past (or sometimes “Eohippus”, the “dawn-horse”) are not actually closely related to horses, including Hyracotherium itself, but can be considered as basal perissodactyls. Among the latter, at least Pliolophus and Cardiolophus experienced vast and fast dispersals between North America, Europe and Asia, during the PETM. This paleobiogeographic scenario much resembles the one of other earliest Eocene mammals, which comprise genera that are often found in at least two continents, such as in artiodactyls, primates, carnivorans, hyaenodontids, hyopsodontids, phenacodontids or rodents. Here, we show that the paleobiogeographic distribution of earliest perissodactyls does not differ from that of other modern mammals.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025 OA
