Diferencias en el potencial evolutivo de las hormigas hospedadoras del género Proformica y sus parásitas esclavistas Rossomyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Ruano, F., Sanllorente, O., Lenoir, A., Tinaut, A. 2017. Different evolutionary potential in host ants of the genus Proformica and their slave-making ant Rossomyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Ecosistemas 26(3): 48-53. Doi.: 10.7818/ECOS.2017.26-3.07 Parasitism is known to be one of the main drivers of evolution. Each organism involved in this relationship has an evolutionary potential that can be measured as its genetic diversity. This feature, in turn, depends on factors such as the dispersal ability, genetic flow and size, structure and composition of its populations. The evolutionary potential also constrains local adaptation between parasite and host. In slave-making ants, this local adaptation can be measured as the similitude in the cuticular hydrocarbon (CHCs) composition. Ants of the genus Rossomyrmex parasitize by raiding and enslaving ants from the genus Proformica . In this study we report new genetic data on two of the three host species studied by us, which together with previous published data enable us to analyze the genetic and biological characteristics of the different host-parasite systems. These systems show variable ranges of distribution (fragmented and continuous), genetic diversity, evolutionary potential and local adaptation. The geographic distribution (fragmented or continuous) strongly influences the population structure of Proformica in comparison with nest composition. We also found differences in the evolutionary potential when comparing host and parasite species, being local adaptation different for each host-parasite system. All these results suggest that the ants of both genera constitute interesting model systems for the comparative study of the processes leading to different evolutionary outcomes in the host-parasite arms-race.