Data from: Defensive traits exhibit an evolutionary trade-off and drive diversification in ants

Evolutionary biologists have long predicted that evolutionary trade-offs
among traits should constrain morphological divergence and species
diversification. However, this prediction has yet to be tested in a broad
evolutionary context in many diverse clades, including ants. Here, we
reconstruct an expanded ant phylogeny representing 82% of ant genera,
compile a new family-wide trait database, and conduct various trait-based
analyses to show that defensive traits in ants do exhibit an evolutionary
trade-off. In particular, the use of a functional sting negatively
correlates with a suite of other defensive traits including spines, large
eye size, and large colony size. Furthermore, we find that several of the
defensive traits that trade off with a sting are also positively
correlated with each other and drive increased diversification, further
suggesting that these traits form a defensive suite. Our results support
the hypothesis that trade-offs in defensive traits significantly constrain
trait evolution and influence species diversification in ants.