Biogeography of the Ants of Madagascar

This project is led by Master’s Student Natalie MacCallum working with Dr. Brian Fisher of the CaliforniaAcademy of Sciences.

We are generating DNA sequences from the cytochrome c oxidase I (COI), long-wavelength Rhodopsin (LW Rh), wingless (wg), abdominal-A and the large subunit (28s) ribosomal RNA gene to determine the phylogeny of the genus Mystrium. We will use the resulting phylogeny to identify species distinctions within the genus and to evaluate the biogeographic distribution of these species on Madagascar.