Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Freiburg University

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 7 April 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5770, p. 15
DOI: 10.1126/science.312.5770.15h
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

This Week in Science

Ants are a dominant feature of terrestrial ecosystems and yet we know surprisingly little about their evolutionary history. Moreau et al. (p. 101; see the cover) sequenced DNA from multiple genes for a representative sample of ant species from around the world to reconstruct an ant family tree. A single group, the Leptanillinae, lies at the base of the tree, while all the other groups fall into two major clusters. By using fossils to calibrate the rates of DNA evolution in ants, they conclude that present-day ants arose approximately 140 to 168 million years ago. However, ant diversification only took off ~100 million years ago, immediately after the rise of flowering plants, the angiosperms.




ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT

To Advertise     Find Products