Phylogenetic Position of the Western Bangladesh Populations of Weaver Ant, Oecophylla smaragdina (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

The weaver ant species, Oecophylla smaragdina is distributed from India through Southeast Asia to Northern Australia including many tropical Western Pacific Islands. A recent phylogenetic study of O. smaragdina revealed the central Bangladesh population as belonging to the Southeast Asian mainland clade despite of its geographical proximity to India. However, the Bangladeshi analyzed sample was limited to a single site and the geographical border between Indian and Southeast Asian groups has not been presented. In this study, 19 samples collected from western parts of Bangladesh have been used to infer the phylogenetic position. A total of 20 O. smaragdina colonies were sampled from Bangladesh during 2013 to 2014. Their haplotype and phylogenetic relationships were determined by analyzing 2 mitochondrial loci: Cytochrome b (Cytb) consisting of 606 bp and Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) consisting of 775 bp. Bayesian analysis inferred that the western parts of Bangladesh were occupied by mitochondrial haplotype usually found in India, which is recorded first time in the country. The present study revealed that, both the Indian and Southeast Asian mitochondrial haplotypes were occurred on either side of Ganges river.