VIRANT dataset: RT-qPCR detection of 20 viral targets in ants and sympatric bees (Italy, 2025)

Raw RT-qPCR data on the occurrence of 20 viral targets (7 bee-associated and 13 ant-associated) in ants and sympatric bees sampled across Italy in 2025. The dataset contains 412 ant samples (Formicidae; 97 species, 26 genera) and 414 bee samples (Apoidea; 18 genera) collected in grassland and woodland plots in 13 Italian regions between May and October 2025. For each sample it reports the region, plot coordinates, habitat, taxonomic identification and the viral genome copy number of each target, quantified from RT-qPCR standard curves. Structure: one Excel file with three sheets: README (column definitions and notes), Ants and Bees (one row per sample). Values are raw copy numbers; in the associated analyses, quantities below the limit of detection (10 genomic copies) were set to zero. Associated article: Giannetti et al., “Virus occurrence in ants: ecological drivers and network shared with syntopic managed and wild bees”, iScience (DOI to be added).