Abstract
The little fire ant Wasmannia auropunctata, native to the Neotropics, has become a serious pest worldwide over the past 100 years. It was originally distributed from Mexico to northern Argentina and new evidence suggests a recent southern range expansion during the last 60 years reaching central Argentina. This supercolonial ant species has a polymorphic reproductive system. Some populations, mostly found in undisturbed natural environments, are characterised by a classical sexual haplodiploid reproductive system. In other populations, which mainly occur in human-modified habitats, diploid queens and haploid males are produced clonally while workers are produced sexually. Here we studied the association between the recent southern range expansion of W. auropunctata in relation to human activity and clonality. We carried out an extensive survey within the southern limit of the species’ native distribution and characterised the type of habitat where populations were found. Moreover, we genetically determined the type of reproductive system in 35 populations by genotyping at 12 microsatellite loci a total of 191 reproductive individuals (i.e. queens and/or males). Clonality was the most common reproductive system, occurring in 31 out of 35 populations analysed. All the populations found in the recently colonised area in central Argentina were clonal and established in human-modified habitats, suggesting that clonality together with human activity might have facilitated the southwards expansion of W. auropunctata.
Highlights
IntroductionSouthern expansion of Wasmannia auropunctata within its native range
As expected from previous studies [22], populations established in human-disturbed habitats were mostly clonal and exhibited ecological characteristics similar to those of invasive populations. This result strengthens the tight association between human disturbance, clonality and ecological success previously reported in northern South America and within the introduced range of W. auropunctata [22]
The classical haplo-diploid sexual reproductive system was only present in four populations confined to northeastern Argentina
Summary
Southern expansion of Wasmannia auropunctata within its native range. 2011-2014; Proyecto de Investigacion Cientıfica PIP 2012-2014- No 112- 201101- 00586, CONICET; USDA-ARS-Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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