The Evolution of the Dacetine Ants

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Abstract
A preliminary synthesis of evolutionary studies of certain morphological and ethologi-cal characters in the ant tribe Dacetini is given. A primary trend inferred from the study of living species is the shift from epigaeic-subarboreal to cryptic-terrestrial foraging. Possibly associated in the early stages of dacetine evolution with this shift was a trend toward oligophagous predation, resulting in extreme cases among modern forms in specialized feeding on collembolans. Secondary changes have occurred in hunting behavior and in a diversity of morphological features; these are described briefly. Reversed or, more accurately, "countercurrent" evolution has occurred in various phyletic lines in most of the characters-of this morphological-ethological coadaptive system. Such changes are relatively short-range and usually involve only a few characters at a time. In at least some instances they have produced a local reversal in the overall dacetine trend to specialization, as with secondarily increased polyphagy in some species of Strumigenys. Convergence to the higher dacetine morphological type has occurred independently in several other ant tribes; in at least one case (Rhopalothrix) ethological convergence is also evident.

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