Color lightness of velvet ants

Here, we address whether color lightness in velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) responds to latitudinal gradients and bioclimatic variations, testing three ecogeographic rules: The Thermal Melanism hypothesis; the Photoprotection hypothesis; and Gloger's rule. We test these hypotheses across the New World. We used photographs of 482 specimens (n= 142 species) of female mutillid wasps and extracted data on color lightness (V). We analyzed whether variation in color is determined by bioclimatic factors, using Phylogenetic Generalized Least Square analysis. The results presented here provide the first evidence that abiotic components of the environment can act as ecological filters and as selective forces driving the body coloration of velvet ants.

本研究旨在探究蚁蜂（velvet ants，Hymenoptera: Mutillidae膜翅目:蚁蜂科）的体色明度是否响应纬度梯度与生物气候变异，并验证三条生态地理规则：热力黑化假说（Thermal Melanism hypothesis）、光保护假说（Photoprotection hypothesis）以及格洛格法则（Gloger's rule）。我们在美洲大陆全域范围内对上述假说开展了验证。本研究采集了482份雌性蚁蜂标本的照片，这些标本隶属于142个物种（n=142），并提取了其体色明度（V）的数据。采用系统发育广义最小二乘（Phylogenetic Generalized Least Square）分析方法，我们探究了体色变异是否由生物气候因子所决定。本研究结果首次提供了证据，表明环境中的非生物组分可作为生态过滤因子与选择压力，驱动蚁蜂的体色演化。