Data from: Correlated evolution of larval development, egg size, and genome size across two genera of snapping shrimp

Across plants and animals, genome size is often correlated with life
history traits: large genomes are correlated with larger seeds, slower
development, larger body size, and slower cell division. Among decapod
crustaceans, caridean shrimps are among the most variable both in terms of
genome size variation and life history characteristics such as larval
development mode and egg size, but the extent to which these traits are
associated in a phylogenetic context is largely unknown. In this study, we
examine correlations among egg size, larval development, and genome size
in two different genera of snapping shrimp, Alpheus and Synalpheus, using
phylogenetically informed analyses. In both Alpheus and Synalpheus, egg
size is strongly linked to larval development mode: species with
abbreviated development had significantly larger eggs than species with
extended larval development. We produced the first comprehensive dataset
of genome size in Alpheus (n = 37 species), and demonstrated that genome
size was strongly and positively correlated with egg size in both Alpheus
and Synalpheus. Correlated trait evolution analyses showed that in
Alpheus, changes in genome size were clearly dependent on egg size. In
Synalpheus, evolutionary path analyses suggest that changes in development
mode (from extended to abbreviated) drove increases in egg volume; and
larger eggs, in turn, resulted in larger genomes. These data suggest that
variation in reproductive traits may underpin the high degree of variation
in genome size seen in a wide variety of caridean shrimp groups more
generally.