Large deformation diffeomorphic mapping of 3D shape variation reveals two distinct mandible and head capsule morphs in Atta vollenweideri leaf-cutter worker ants
Author(s)
Imirzian, Natalie
Püffel, Frederik
Roces, Flavio
Labonte, David
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Ants are crucial ecosystem engineers, and their ecological success is facilitated by a division of labour among sterile "workers". In some ant lineages, workers have undergone further morphological differentiation, resulting in differences in body size, shape, or both. Distinguishing between changes in size and shape is not trivial. Traditional approaches based on allometry reduce complex 3D shapes into simple linear, areal, or volume metrics; modern approaches using geometric morphometrics typically rely on landmarks, introducing observer bias and a trade-off between effort and accuracy. Here, we use a landmark-free method based on large deformation diffeomorphic metric mapping (LDDMM) to assess the co-variation of size and 3D shape in the mandibles and head capsules of Atta vollenweideri leaf-cutter ants, a species exhibiting extreme worker size-variation. Body mass varied by more than two orders of magnitude, but a shape atlas created via LDDMM on μ-CT-derived 3D mesh files revealed only two distinct head capsule and mandibles shapes-one for the minims (body mass < 1 mg) and one for all other workers. We discuss the functional significance of the identified 3D shape variation, and its implications for the evolution of extreme polymorphism in Atta.
Date Issued
2024-04
Date Acceptance
2024-03-15
Citation
Ecology and Evolution, 2024, 14 (4)
ISSN
2045-7758
Publisher
Wiley
Journal / Book Title
Ecology and Evolution
Volume
14
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38633523
Subjects
allometry
ants
morphology
morphometrics
polymorphism
social insects
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Article Number
e11236
Date Publish Online
2024-04-16