Abstract
The weaver ant species, <i>Oecophylla smaragdina</i>, is widely distributed from India through Southeast Asia to northern Australia including many tropical Western Pacific islands. Recent phylogenetic study of <i>O. smaragdina</i> showed that the species is divided into 7 groups based on mtDNA and the Bangladesh populations belong to SE Asian mainland clade despite its geographical proximity to India. The present study aims to reveal the phylogenetic aspect of <i>O. smaragdina</i> in Bangladesh with its divergence time estimation based on extensive materials. Sampling was executed according to zonation of 5 areas which are demarcated by 3 main rivers and a total of 95 colonies from 87 localities of 47 Districts were collected during 2013 to 2018 from Bangladesh. The molecular analyses, using 2 mitochondrial loci: Cytochrome b oxidase subunit 2 (Cytb) consisting of 507 bp and Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) consisting of 639 bp done in Ku, Japan. The analysis of 84 colonies revealed that 47 are the Indian clade (Indian type) and 37 are the SE Asian mainland clade (SE Asian type). The distribution of mtDNA types showed the occurrence of both the two types with some overlapping distribution in the central part of Bangladesh. The divergence time analysis in Bangladesh populations, resulted that Indian type diverged ca. 2.2 Ma and SE Asian type diverged ca. 0.20 Ma corresponding to early to late Pleistocene. This study suggested a comprehensive phylogenetic scenario of <i>O. smaragdina</i> in Bangladesh.
Highlights
The weaver ant, O. smaragdina is a broadly distributed genus and has the ability to disperse over ocean islands without human interventions
Azuma et al first analyzed populations of O. smaragdina using molecular data and samples, including the O. smaragdina from Bangladesh [3]. She added comprehensive samples of O. smaragdina from India, Southeast Asia and Australia, Azuma et al proposed an outline of the phylogeography of O. smaragdina and categorized the sampled populations into 7 major clades: group 1 from India; group 2 from Southeast Asian mainland including the Indochinese and Malayan Peninsulas, as well as the Greater Sunda Islands; group 3 from the Philippines; group 4 from Flores; group 5 from Sulawesi; group 6 from Halmahera; group 7 from Australia and New Guinea [4]
Bangladeshi 48 weaver ant samples were nested with Indian clade of O. smaragdina, whereas 39 samples were nested with the Southeast Asian clades
Summary
The weaver ant, O. smaragdina is a broadly distributed genus and has the ability to disperse over ocean islands without human interventions. Asaka extended the survey of O. smaragdina to South Asia and collected several samples from India and Sri Lanka [1] Her phylogenetic analysis showed that all analyzed samples belong to Indian clade with low levels of sequence divergence. Azuma et al characterized the mitochondrial sequence identity of the Bangladesh populations as belonging to the Southeast Asian clade in spite of the geographical proximity of Bangladesh to India [4]. They hypothesized the existence of an Indian refuge for the independence of group 1 from group 2 and concluded that if
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