Defensive spines are associated with large geographic range but not diversification in spiny ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Polyrhachis)

Several prominent evolutionary theories propose mechanisms whereby the evolution of a defensive trait or suite of traits causes significant shifts in species diversification rate and niche evolution. We investigate the role of cuticular spines, a highly variable morphological defensive trait in the hyperdiverse ant genus Polyrhachis, on species diversification and geographic range size. Informed by key innovation theory and the escape-and-radiate hypothesis, we predicted that clades with longer spines would exhibit elevated rates of diversification and larger range sizes compared to clades with shorter spines. To address these predictions, we estimated phylogenetic relationships with a phylogenomic approach utilizing ultra-conserved elements (UCEs) and compiled morphological and biogeographic trait databases. In contrast to the first prediction, we found no association between diversification rate and any trait (spine length, body size, and range size). However, we recovered a positive ..., , UCE contig files (including .zip for trimmed-unfiltered contigs and .zip for trimmed-filtered contigs [70% taxon complete contigs]), tree files, data, and R script associated with the manuscript by Blanchard and Moreau (submitted) on Polyrhachis diversification, spine evolution, and biogeography., This revised README file was generated on 2024-03-04 by Benjamin D. Blanchard.

GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Title of Dataset: Defensive spines are associated with large geographic range but not diversification in spiny ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Polyrhachis)

2. Author Information
A. Corresponding Author Contact Information
Name: Benjamin D. Blanchard
Institution: Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden
Address: CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, XTBG, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China
Email: [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])

3. Date of data collection (single date, range, approximate date): 2017-2019

4. Geographic location of data collection: Global

5. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: NSF DEB-1701352, NSF IOS-1916995, NSF DEB-1900357, CAS PIFI 2021PB0085, grant from the University of Chicago Henry Hinds Fund for Evolutionary Research, and a Field Museum o...