Data from: Global phylogenetic structure of the hyperdiverse ant genus Pheidole reveals the repeated evolution of macroecological patterns

Adaptive radiations are of particular interest owing to what they reveal
about the ecological and evolutionary regulation of biodiversity. This
applies to localized island radiations such as Darwin's finches, and
also to rapid radiations occurring on a global scale. Here we analyse the
macroevolution and macroecology of Pheidole, a famously hyperdiverse and
ecologically dominant ant genus. We generate and analyse four novel
datasets: (i) a robust global phylogeny including 285 Pheidole species,
(ii) a global database on regional Pheidole richness in 365 political
areas summarizing over 97 000 individual records from more than 6500
studies, (iii) a global database of Pheidole richness from 3796 local
communities and (iv) a database of Pheidole body sizes across species.
Analysis of the potential climate drivers of richness revealed that the
patterns are statistically very similar across different biogeographic
regions, with both regional and local richness associated with the same
coefficients of temperature and precipitation. This similarity occurs even
though phylogenetic analysis shows that Pheidole reached dominance in
communities through serial localized radiations into different biomes
within different continents and islands. Pheidole body size distributions
have likewise converged across geographical regions. We propose these
cases of convergence indicate that the global radiation of Pheidole is
structured by deterministic factors regulating diversification and
diversity.