ZOBODAT - www.zobodat.at Zoologisch-Botanische Datenbank/Zoological-Botanical Database Digitale Literatur/Digital Literature Zeitschrift/Journal: Arthropod Systematics and Phylogeny Jahr/Year: 2019 Band/Volume: 77 Autor(en)/Author(s): Reeves Destiny D., Moreau Corrie S. Artikel/Article: The evolution of foraging behavior in ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) 351-363 77 (2): 351 – 363 2019 © Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, 2019. The evolution of foraging behavior in ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Destiny D. Reeves *, 1 & Corrie S. Moreau 2 1 Field Museum of Natural History, Department of Science and Education, Integrative Research Center, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA; Destiny D. Reeves * [
[email protected]] — 2 Cornell University, Departments of Entomology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA; Corrie S. Moreau [
[email protected]] — * Corresponding author Accepted on July 15, 2019. Published online at www.senckenberg.de/arthropod-systematics on September 17, 2019. Published in print on September 27, 2019. Editors in charge: Rudolf Meier & Klaus-Dieter Klass. Abstract. Cooperative foraging behavior is a key characteristic of ants. A variety of foraging behaviors are present across this animal family, but little is known of how these behavioral traits evolved and differentiated. In addition, classifcation of these foraging behaviors has been inconsistent across the literature. Using four classifcation methods, we infer the ancestral foraging states across the Formicidae, as well as test the transitions between and resulting speciation due to foraging behavior. Our study reinforces the hypothesis that solitary foraging behaviors are ancestral to cooperative foraging behaviors, with strong support for solitary foraging at the root of the phylogeny. We fnd that cooperative foraging behaviors rarely revert to solitary, and that cooperative behaviors do not often transition between one another.