Gut microbiomes of Phanaeus vindex and P. difformis dung beetles across allopatric and sympatric ranges: Raw sequence reads

The microbiome plays key roles in host physiology and ecology, but how the microbiome varies among populations of hosts is not well understood. However, different abiotic and biotic selection pressures across a species' range likely lead to variation in the microbiome. In addition, symbiotic microbiota may differ more between closely-related species in sympatry than in allopatry if selection favors the reduction of interspecific competition. We investigated variation in the maternally transmitted, beneficial gut microbiomes of Phanaeus vindex and P. difformis, sister species of dung beetles that compete for the same resources in sympatry and occur across diverse climatic conditions . Specifically, we sampled and sequenced bacterial and archaeal 16S rDNA from guts of P. difformis and P. vindex collected across 17 sympatric and allopatric sites to explore the patterns and processes leading to variation in the gut microbiome.