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Phylogeny and historical biogeography of the paper wasp genus Polistes (Hymenoptera: Vespidae): implications for the overwintering hypothesis of social evolution
Author(s) -
Santos Bernardo F.,
Payne Ansel,
Pickett Kurt M.,
Carpenter James M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
cladistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.323
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1096-0031
pISSN - 0748-3007
DOI - 10.1111/cla.12103
Subject(s) - polistes , vespidae , biology , overwintering , biogeography , biological dispersal , genus , ecology , paper wasp , evolutionary biology , zoology , hymenoptera , population , demography , sociology
The phylogeny of the paper wasp genus Polistes is investigated using morphological and behavioural characters, as well as molecular data from six genes ( COI , 12S , 16S , 28S , H3 , and EF 1‐ α). The results are used to investigate the following evolutionary hypotheses about the genus: (i) that Polistes first evolved in Southeast Asia, (ii) that dispersal to the New World occurred only once, and (iii) that long‐term monogyny evolved as an adaptation to overwintering in a temperate climate. Optimization of distribution records on the recovered tree does not allow unambiguous reconstruction of the ancestral area of Polistes . While the results indicate that Polistes dispersed into the New World from Asia, South America is recovered as the ancestral area for all New World Polistes : Nearctic species groups evolved multiple times from this South American stock. The final tree topology suggests strongly that the genus first arose in a tropical environment, refuting the idea of monogyny as an overwintering adaptation.