Insights into the population genetics of an extreme habitat specialist, the wood ant commensal Formicoxenus nitidulus

Habitat specialists, particularly those that are poor dispersers, are highly susceptible to population isolation as a result of habitat fragmentation. Population isolation can lead to inbreeding, resulting in reduced genetic diversity and an increased risk of local extinction. The shining guest ant, Formicoxenus nitidulus, lives only within the nests of its wood ant hosts. It is thus an extreme habitat specialist, dependent on patchy nesting sites within an already fragmented woodland habitat. We aimed to generate the first data on the population genetics of this species, to characterize its genetic diversity and degree of population isolation. We developed eight novel nuclear microsatellite markers and generated mitochondrial DNA sequence data of the COI region to characterize samples from seven UK F. nitidulus populations collected from nests of three wood ant hosts: Formica aquilonia, Formica lugubris, and Formica rufa. These novel nuclear microsatellite markers c..., , , # Insights into the population genetics of an extreme habitat specialist, the wood ant commensal Formicoxenus nitidulus

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9zw3r22rt](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9zw3r22rt)

## Description of the data and file structure

Male Shining Guest Ant (Formicoxenus nititulus) specimens were collected from the surface of host wood ants (Formica rufa, Formica aquilonia, or Formica lugubris) at 7 sites across the UK in 2020-2021.

### Files and variables

#### File: genotype\_data.csv

**Description:** Microsatellite data for *Formicoxenus nitidulus* collected from wood ant host nests

##### Variables

* id: Specimen ID
* loc13: Microsatellite locus 13
* loc14: Microsatellite locus 14
* loc35: Microsatellite locus 35
* loc45: Microsatellite locus 45
* loc48: Microsatellite locus 48
* loc53: Microsatellite locus 53
* loc54: Microsatellite locus 54
* loc58: Microsatellite locus 58
* site: Site of collection: AB= Abernethy, Scotland; AV = Aviemore, Scotland; BX = Broxa,...,