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Supplementary Material 1

December 2018

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CC BY 4.0

Authors:

Pierre-André Eyer

Texas A&M University

University of Wyoming

Luis Calcaterra

Fundación para el Estudio de Especies Invasivas - CONICET

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Available via license: CC BY 4.0

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1348159 2221

20

18 19

7

51714 16

11

6122 13363525

29 3426

28 32 27 3331 30 24 23

Introduced Range Native Range

K = 2

K = 15

Figure S1: Graphical representation of STRUCTURE results for different values of K genetic groups. Each group is

characterized by a color, and each individual is represented by a vertical bar according to its probability to belong to each

group. The simulation was run for our overall sampling, with a single individual per colony. The most likely number of genetic

groups in the population is (K = 2), while (K = 15) is the second most likely, according to Evanno et al. (2005) method.

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Supercolonial structure of invasive populations of the tawny crazy ant Nylanderia fulva in the US

Article

December 2018

Pierre-André Eyer · Bryant McDowell · Laura Johnson · Luis Calcaterra · Edward L Vargo

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Supplementary Material 3

December 2018

Data

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Supplementary Material 2

December 2018

Article

Full-text available

Supercolonial structure of invasive populations of the tawny crazy ant Nylanderia fulva in the US

December 2018 · BMC Evolutionary Biology

Background Social insects are among the most serious invasive pests in the world, particularly successful at monopolizing environmental resources to outcompete native species and achieve ecological dominance. The invasive success of some social insects is enhanced by their unicolonial structure, under which the presence of numerous queens and the lack of aggression against non-nestmates allow ... [Show full abstract] high worker densities, colony growth, and survival while eliminating intra-specific competition. In this study, we investigated the population genetics, colony structure and levels of aggression in the tawny crazy ant, Nylanderia fulva, which was recently introduced into the United States from South America. Results We found that this species experienced a genetic bottleneck during its invasion lowering its genetic diversity by 60%. Our results show that the introduction of N. fulva is associated with a shift in colony structure. This species exhibits a multicolonial organization in its native range, with colonies clearly separated from one another, whereas it displays a unicolonial system with no clear boundaries among nests in its invasive range. We uncovered an absence of genetic differentiation among populations across the entire invasive range, and a lack of aggressive behaviors towards conspecifics from different nests, even ones separated by several hundreds of kilometers. Conclusions Overall, these results suggest that across its entire invasive range in the U.S.A., this species forms a single supercolony spreading more than 2000 km. In each invasive nest, we found several, up to hundreds, of reproductive queens, each being mated with a single male. The many reproductive queens per nests, together with the free movement of individuals between nests, leads to a relatedness coefficient among nestmate workers close to zero in introduced populations, calling into question the stability of this unicolonial system in which indirect fitness benefits to workers is apparently absent. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12862-018-1336-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Full-text available

Breeding structure and invasiveness in social insects

February 2021 · Current Opinion in Insect Science

Plasticity in life history traits is commonly used to explain the invasion success of social insects. While intraspecific plasticity is often recognized, interspecific variability is easily overlooked, whereby different species exhibit different strategies. The presence of many queens per colony and the collapse of colony boundaries have favored invasiveness for many ant species. However, these ... [Show full abstract] strategies are absent from other successful social invaders. Here, we report that various life-history traits may differentially enhance the invasion success in social insects. We suggest that other aspects of their breeding system, like asexual reproduction, intranidal mating and pre-adaptation to inbreeding may enhance their invasion success. Thorough comparative studies between native and introduced populations or studies of closely related species will help identify additional traits favoring the invasion success of social insects, and ultimately provide a more comprehensive picture of the evolutionary factors enhancing invasiveness across this phylogenetically and ecologically diverse group.