Putative source and niche shift pattern of a new alien ant species (Odontomachus troglodytes) in Taiwan

Tzong-Han Lin; Kai-Wei Chan; Feng-Chuan Hsu; Chung-Chi Lin; Hui-Yun Tseng

doi:10.7717/peerj.14718

Putative source and niche shift pattern of a new alien ant species (Odontomachus troglodytes) in Taiwan

PeerJ. 2023 Feb 6:11:e14718. doi: 10.7717/peerj.14718. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Tzong-Han Lin¹, Kai-Wei Chan², Feng-Chuan Hsu³, Chung-Chi Lin⁴, Hui-Yun Tseng²

Affiliations

¹ School of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Department of Entomology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Biology, National Changhua University of Education, Changhua, Taiwan.

Abstract

Alien species may pose substantial impacts on biodiversity around the globe through international trade and travel. A niche shift hypothesis was proposed to explain the adaptive change of alien or invasive species in new habitats. However, whether niche shifts occur in alien species likely depends on both characteristics inherent to the species itself and its original distribution. Here we identified a newly exotic trap-jaw ant (Odontomachus troglodytes) in Taiwan by morphological and phylogenetic analyses. The possible distribution range and the niche shift pattern were evaluated using ecological niche modelling. The results indicated that exotic O. troglodytes in the newly distributed area displayed a significant niche shift with low niche overlap and high niche expansion. This study reveals a long-distance invasive event from central Africa to Southeast Asia (more than 10,000 km) and predicts the potential distribution range of this new alien species in Taiwan.

Keywords: Environmental niche models; Exotic species; Niche expansion; Phylogenetic relationship; Trap-jaw ant.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Ants*
Commerce
Internationality
Introduced Species*
Phylogeny
Taiwan

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan (MOST 108-2313-B-312 002-060-MY3, MOST 111-2313-B-002-047). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.