Comparisons of Different Methods of Determining Affinities for Nine Ant Species of the Genus Camponotus.

Abstract

Phenograms and cladograms were constructed by use of allozyme electromorph frequencies, and compared with a preliminary dendrogram based on an examination of the external morphology of nine ant species (Camponotus spp.) collected from 14 colonies. The phenetic and classical approaches were highly concordant in their placement of colonies into groups corresponding to currently recognized species, but although the phenograms and cladogram were also highly concordant in the relationships suggested between species, there were significant differences between the classical, morphological dendrogram and the others. This result could either suggest that there are significant differences between the morphological and molecular levels during the course of the evolution of these ant species, or reflect the fact that for none of the three approaches is it possible to estimate how robust are the solutions obtained.