Converging or diverging? Shape coevolution between a sperm-dependent asexual and its sexual hosts

Asexual species, despite lacking recombination, can evolve in response to environmental changes and influence the evolutionary trajectory of coexisting sexual species. Gynogenesis, where asexual females rely on sperm from males of a different species, offers a unique perspective on the eco-evolutionary dynamics between asexual females and their sexual hosts. The Amazon molly, Poecilia formosa, is a gynogenetic species that primarily uses sperm from two sympatric sexual species: the Sailfin molly (P. latipinna) and the Atlantic molly (P. mexicana). We analyzed shape variation among wild P. formosa, P. latipinna, and P. mexicana females to understand Amazon molly shape variation relative to their sexual hosts. We tested three hypotheses: (i) Amazon mollies mimic their sexual hosts to enhance mating opportunities (sexual mimicry hypothesis); (ii) ecological interactions or male mate choice drive morphological divergence (character displacement hypothesis); and (iii) Amazon mollies exhibit ..., Sampling
To address these questions, we leveraged two independent and complementary datasets that used slightly different methodological approaches. The first dataset included a balanced sampling of P. formosa (N=212) and its host species from six natural populations in Texas, USA and Tamaulipas, Mexico, and one common-garden-reared population (since 1994) from a site where P. formosa coexists with both host species. In this first dataset (Dataset I), geometric morphometric analyses were based on external landmarks on lateral photographs of live specimens taken in the field (Figure 2a). The second dataset (Dataset II) included a larger sample size in terms of the number of sites (N=18) and specimens (N=678). Despite a larger sample size, Dataset II is often unbalanced in terms of species sampled within collection locations (reflecting the relative frequency of species at the time of collection). For Dataset II, specimens were fixed upon collection, and geometric morphometric analyses we..., # DATA FOR Converging or diverging? Shape coevolution between a sperm-dependent asexual and its sexual hosts

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4f4qrfjpz](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4f4qrfjpz)

## Description of the data and file structure

This README file refers to the dataset used in the study \"**Converging or diverging? Shape coevolution between a sperm-dependent asexual and its sexual hosts.**\" 

The study used two different geometric morphometrics  datasets. Therefore each dataset contains geometric morphometric files as follows:

* One \".TPS\" file per dataset (\"AmazonMollyVariation_Dataset01.TPS\" and \"AmazonMollyVariation_Dataset02.TPS\") containing the landmark configuration for every individual used in the study.
* One \"Outline file\" per dataset (\"AmazonMollyVariation_OutlineFile_Dataset01.txt\" and \"AmazonMollyVariation_OutlineFile_Dataset02.txt\") containing the outline curves used to visualize the shape variation in both datasets.
* One \"Classifier file\" per dataset (\"AmazonMol...,