Evolution of hybridogenetic lineages in Cataglyphis ants

Several species of Cataglyphis desert ants have evolved a peculiar breeding system called social hybridogenesis. Under this system, two divergent genetic lineages coexist within a species. Workers develop from hybrid crosses between lineages, whereas queens and males are produced by parthenogenesis and carry only the maternal genome. To gain a better understanding of the evolutionary history of social hybridogenesis in Cataglyphis, we studied its phylogeographic distribution in the Iberian Peninsula using both STR and SNP nuclear markers.