How Ants Evolved and Spread Across the World

About one tenth of the world's ants are close relatives, belonging to just one genus out of 323 called Pheidole. Now, scientists have taken a closer look at ants and have found exactly how they've evolved over thousands and millions of years.

In this case, the researchers compared gene sequences from 300 species of Pheidole from around the world. They then used these gene sequences to construct a tree that shows when and where each species evolved into new species. At the same time, they aggregated data on where all 1,200 of the species belonging to this genus live on Earth. This, in turn, created a range map for each species.

The researchers compared the evolutionary family tree that they constructed with the range map showing where each species lived. This showed species that were close relatives living in different continents and that the genus was split into two main groups of evolutionary relatives: one in the New World and one in the Old World.

"The new world and the old world are almost completely independent of each other," said Evan Economo, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Pheidole first evolved in the new world, from one species to over six hundred species."

The researchers also found where these species were dominant, and found that they prefer warm, wet climates. That said, these species didn't become successful due to random chance. Instead, they evolved key innovations over other species.

Currently, the scientists hope to learn how so many Pheidole species can coexist, which may give further insights into the process of evolution.

The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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