Mimetic host shifts in a social parasite of ants: Analytical data of surface semio-chemicals on Maculinea rebeli larvae

This dataset is part of the study of mimetic host shifts in an endangered social parasite of ants, which is a joint study of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the University of Oxford. It contains the relative abundance data of cuticular hydrocarbons extracted from worker ants of Myrmica sabuleti and M. schencki, and from caterpillars of Maculinea rebeli from two populations at the pre-adoption stage and after being reared by the two ant species. The chemical was analysed from the caterpillars from each region when reared with each ants, by using gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MSD). Various statistical analysis was then carried out to compare the differences between groups. It aims to test whether observed regional differences in M. rebeli's host specificity could be explained by variation in chemical mimicry. Detailed research method can be found in Thomas et al. (2013) Mimetic host shifts in an endangered social parasite of ants. Proc. R. Soc. B vol. 280 no.1751. (https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2336) Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/b0aec477-0883-4963-a3ae-52e3f0daf5aa

本数据集系一项关于濒危蚂蚁社会性寄生虫宿主模仿迁移的研究的一部分，该研究由生态与水文研究中心与牛津大学联合进行。数据集包含从M. sabuleti和M. schencki工蚁以及Maculinea rebeli毛毛虫中提取的表皮烃类的相对丰度数据，这些数据分别来自两个种群在采用前以及被两种蚂蚁饲养后的情况。对每个区域在饲养过程中与每种蚂蚁共育的毛毛虫中的化学物质进行了分析，分析采用了气相色谱-质谱联用技术（GC-MSD）。随后，对各组之间的差异进行了多种统计分析。本研究旨在验证M. rebeli宿主特异性观察到的区域差异是否可以由化学模仿的变异性来解释。更详细的科研方法可参考Thomas等（2013）发表的《濒危蚂蚁社会性寄生虫的宿主模仿迁移》。《皇家学会B类学报》第280卷第1751期。（https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2336）有关本数据集的详细信息，请查阅https://doi.org/10.5285/b0aec477-0883-4963-a3ae-52e3f0daf5aa。