Anmerkungen:
Kumulative Dissertation, enthält Zeitschriftenaufsätze
Tag der Verteidigung:02.11.2022
Zusammenfassungen in deutscher und englischer Sprache
Beschreibung:
Ants are the most speciose group of eusocial insects. Species of the family Formicidae are dominant in most terrestrial ecosystems and different ant species have widely different life habits. As diverse as ant lifestyles are also their body forms. This diversity is well documented in the systematic, taxonomic literature. However, while early ant systematists such as Carlo Emery and Auguste Forel incorporated anatomical features such as the proventriculus in their inferences, most of the taxonomic and phylogenetic work since then has focused almost exclusively on external characters. In recent years, the use of morphology for phylogenetic reconstruction has declined dramatically with the rise of molecular phylogenetics. While this has led to immense progress in inferring the relationships of the different ant clades, phenotypic evolutionary reconstruction has not progressed to the same degree. This is exemplified by the lack of a single morphological autapomorphy of the “formicoid clade” (Doryloformicia), a grouping containing most of extant ant diversity and consistently recovered in molecular analyses. To begin closing the gaps, I set out the following goals for this dissertation: 1) solidly documenting ant head anatomy across a wide taxon sample, 2) making the terminology compatible with that of other insect groups and develop morphological concepts where necessary, 3) reconstructing character evolution of the ant head, 4) contributing to our functional understanding of the head, and 5) optimizing the workflow for the anatomical study of ants and other insects. To reach this, I have mostly studied ant morphology using µCT-scan based 3d-reconstructions, but also other traditional morphological techniques. My goals were reached to varying degrees in the seven publications forming this thesis. Through my detailed anatomical studies of the ant head I have layed a new groundwork to understand ant phenotypic evolution.