PONEROMICS: integrating phylogenomics and high-throughput 3D phenomics to uncover the macroevolutionary dynamics of ponerine ant biodiversity

• Applicant: Maël Doré, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions ; Systematics and Morphology (Zoology)
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 575582293

Understanding how organisms diversify and adapt along evolutionary times is a central agenda of evolutionary biology. Here, we propose to combine state-of-the-art 3D morphological data with the most recent phylogenomic approaches, extensive biogeographic records, and large ecological databases to investigate the relationship between mandible evolution and diversification dynamics in ponerine ants. Ponerine ants form a diverse cosmopolitan clade of ca. 1,400 predatory species whose evolutionary success has been accompanied by numerous morphological adaptations in mandible shapes associated with a diversity of specialized prey diets. Yet, it is unknown if this morphological diversity has arisen from ‘key innovations’ as many leaps in the morphospace unlocking access to new specialized ecological/diet niches associated with adaptive radiations effectively linking morphological evolution and diversification dynamics. With this project, we will first characterize the mode and tempo of evolution of mandible shapes and perform ancestral reconstructions to identify the ancestral mandible shape of extent ponerine ants (WP1). Next, we will detect if characteristic mandible shapes are linked with increasing diversification rates and test for a correlation between phenotypic rates of mandible evolution and diversification rates at multiple phylogenetic scales (WP2). Factoring the biogeographic history in our integrative perspective of mandible evolution, we will explore the evolutionary trajectories of sister clades which diversified in parallel in different bioregions (WP3). Those represent ideal playgrounds to study whether underlying ecological and/or evolutionary factors such as adaptation to similar trophic niches guide them toward repetitive similar macroevolutionary trajectories or if they are driven by historical contingencies. Thus, we will test if sister adaptive radiations converge towards similar mandible shapes in the phylomorphospace. Lastly, we will incorporate ecological data on trophic niches to fulfil our holistic view of mandible evolution (WP4). We will use phylogenetic comparative approaches to test for an evolutionary relationship between mandible shapes and trophic niches and assess the ability of diet to predict mandible shape, and conversely. Finally, we will test for signals of convergence towards similar mandible shapes between clades occupying the same trophic niches.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Francisco Hita Garcia