Research Training Program

Jonathan Chen
Oberlin College
Oberlin, Ohio

Ted Schultz, Ph.D.
Supervising Scientist
Entomology

"Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise! "

The advent of yeast cell cultivation in Cyphomyrmex

Fungus growing ants are called Attines and they belong to a unique group of the ant kingdom. They exist only in the New World and primarily inhabit the Neotropics. Attines cultivate fungus gardens as a source of food. They gather material such as dead insects, fecal matter, and leaves to elicit the growth of the fungus. The majority of genera within the tribe grow fungus in the form of mycelial gardens, which consist of connected hyphae. However, there are species within the genus Cyphomyrmex that have adapted to cultivating fungus in the form of clumped unicellular yeast cells. The objective of this research was to determine whether species that perform this behavior could be clustered into a group separate from the other species. An analysis of 19 morphological characters of 26 Cyphomyrmex species and a single ancestor produced an evolutionary tree illustrating a clear division within the genus. The tree showed a distinct grouping of yeast-cell cultivators and non-cultivators. Moreover, the tree showed that yeast-cell cultivation is a derived character.

This research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, Award Number DBI-0243512.

Letter of gratitude