Data from: Ancient host shifts followed by host conservatism in a group of ant parasitoids

While ant colonies serve as host to a diverse array of myrmecophiles, few
parasitoids are able to exploit this vast resource. A notable exception is
the wasp family Eucharitidae, which is the only family of insects known to
exclusively parasitize ants. Worldwide, approximately 700 Eucharitidae
species attack five subfamilies across the ant phylogeny. Our goal is to
uncover the pattern of eucharitid diversification, including timing of key
evolutionary events, biogeographic patterns and potential cophylogeny with
ant hosts. We present the most comprehensive molecular phylogeny of
Eucharitidae to date, including 44 of the 53 genera and fossil-calibrated
estimates of divergence dates. Eucharitidae arose approximately 50 Ma
after their hosts, during the time when the major ant lineages were
already established and diversifying. We incorporate host association data
to test for congruence between eucharitid and ant phylogenies and find
that their evolutionary histories are more similar than expected at
random. After a series of initial host shifts, clades within Eucharitidae
maintained their host affinity. Even after multiple dispersal events to
the New World and extensive speciation within biogeographic regions,
eucharitids remain parasitic on the same ant subfamilies as their Old
World relatives, suggesting host conservatism despite access to a diverse
novel ant fauna.