Data from: The rise of army ants and their relatives: diversification of specialized predatory doryline ants

Background
Army ants are dominant invertebrate predators in tropical and subtropical terrestrial ecosystems. Their close relatives within the dorylomorph group of ants are also highly specialized predators, although much less is known about their biology. We analyzed molecular data generated from 11 nuclear genes to infer a phylogeny for the major dorylomorph lineages, and incorporated fossil evidence to infer divergence times under a relaxed molecular clock.
Results
Because our results indicate that one subfamily and several genera of dorylomorphs are non-monophyletic, we propose to subsume the six previous dorylomorph subfamilies into a single subfamily, Dorylinae. We find the monophyly of Dorylinae to be strongly supported and estimate the crown age of the group at 87 (74–101) million years. Our phylogenetic analyses provide only weak support for army ant monophyly and also call into question a previous hypothesis that army ants underwent a fundamental split into New World and Old World lineages. Outside the army ants, our phylogeny reveals for the first time many old, distinct lineages in the Dorylinae. The genus Cerapachys is shown to be non-monophyletic and comprised of multiple lineages scattered across the Dorylinae tree. We recover, with strong support, novel relationships among these Cerapachys-like clades and other doryline genera, but divergences in the deepest parts of the tree are not well resolved. We find the genus Sphinctomyrmex, characterized by distinctive abdominal constrictions, to consist of two separate lineages with convergent morphologies, one inhabiting the Old World and the other the New World tropics.
Conclusions
While we obtain good resolution in many parts of the Dorylinae phylogeny, relationships deep in the tree remain unresolved, with major lineages joining each other in various ways depending upon the analytical method employed, but always with short internodes. This may be indicative of rapid radiation in the early history of the Dorylinae, but additional molecular data and more complete species sampling are needed for confirmation. Our phylogeny now provides a basic framework for comparative biological analyses, but much additional study on the behavior and morphology of doryline species is needed, especially investigations directed at the non-army ant taxa.

背景
行军蚁（Army ants）是热带与亚热带陆地生态系统中占据优势地位的无脊椎捕食者。隶属于游蚁类群（dorylomorph）的近缘类群蚂蚁同样属于高度特化的捕食者，但其生物学特性目前仍鲜有研究。本研究通过分析11个核基因产生的分子数据，对主要游蚁类群演化支进行系统发育推断，并结合化石证据，基于宽松分子钟模型估算类群分化时间。
结果
研究结果显示，原游蚁类群中的1个亚科与多个属均为非单系群，因此本研究提议将此前划分的6个游蚁亚科合并为单一亚科——游蚁亚科（Dorylinae）。本研究证实游蚁亚科的单系性得到强力支持，并估算该类群的冠群年龄为87（74~101）百万年。系统发育分析仅为行军蚁的单系性提供了较弱支持，同时也对此前“行军蚁分化为新大陆与旧大陆两大演化支”的假说提出了质疑。在行军蚁类群之外，本研究的系统发育树首次揭示了游蚁亚科中多个古老且独立的演化支。厚甲蚁属（Cerapachys）被证实为非单系群，其包含多个散布于游蚁亚科系统发育树中的演化支。本研究以高支持度恢复了这些类厚甲蚁演化支与其他游蚁亚科属类群间的全新演化关系，但系统发育树最深层的分化节点仍未得到有效解析。以独特腹部缢缩为特征的棘蚁属（Sphinctomyrmex）被发现包含两个独立演化支，二者具有趋同形态，分别分布于旧大陆与新大陆热带区域。
结论
尽管本研究在游蚁亚科系统发育树的多个分支上获得了良好的解析度，但深层演化关系仍未得到明确。不同分析方法会得到主要演化支间各异的连接模式，但所有结果均显示其内部节间支长度较短。这一现象可能指示游蚁亚科在演化早期经历了快速辐射事件，但仍需补充更多分子数据与更完整的物种采样以验证该推论。本研究构建的系统发育树为后续比较生物学分析提供了基础框架，但仍需针对游蚁亚科物种的行为与形态开展大量补充研究，尤其是针对非行军蚁类群的相关探究。