Lichens are unique among symbiotic organisms because their distinctive features develop only through interactions between the partners and differ from the appearance of each partner when grown separately in culture. Traditionally, lichen phenotype has been assumed to be determined by the mycobiont; however, exceptions exist that challenge the universal validity of this rule. One example is the phenomenon of ‘phantom phenotypes...

The evolution of mass raiding has allowed army ants to become dominant arthropod predators in the tropics. Although a century of research has led to many discoveries about behavioural, morphological and physiological adaptations in army ants, almost nothing is known about the molecular basis of army ant biology. Here we report the genome of the iconic New World army ant Eciton burchellii , and show that it is unusually compact...

Aim The homogenisation of historically isolated gene pools has been recognised as one of the most serious conservation problems in the Antarctic. Lichens are the dominant components of terrestrial biotas in the Antarctic and in high mountain ranges of southern South America. We study the effects of dispersal strategy and migration history on their genetic structure to better understand the importance of these processes and the...

Aim The Southern Ocean landmasses have intrigued biologists for centuries because they share many taxonomic groups. Such disjunct taxa can provide insight into evolutionary processes that connect populations or drive divergence. The lichenized fungus Pseudocyphellaria glabra , for example, has a disjunct distribution—separated by the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean—yet whether these locations should be genetically distinct is...