Southern expansion of the invasive ant Wasmannia auropunctata within its native range and its relation with clonality and human activity

PLoS One. 2018 Nov 21;13(11):e0206602. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0206602. eCollection 2018.

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animal Distribution*
  • Animals
  • Ants* / genetics
  • Argentina
  • Ecosystem
  • Female
  • Genetic Loci
  • Human Activities*
  • Humans
  • Introduced Species*
  • Male
  • Microsatellite Repeats
  • Reproduction / genetics

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT), 7/11/2014 – 7/11/2017, PICT 1468; Proyectos de Investigación Científica, de Innovación Tecnológica e Interdisciplinarios, Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Programación Científica UBACyT 2011-2014; Proyecto de Investigación Científica 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.