Origins and diversification of Myasis across blowflies

Parasitism represents a prevalent and successful ecological strategy that has evolved independently numerous times across metazoa. Understanding the origin and diversification of parasitism is a central question in evolutionary biology. This study investigated the evolutionary path leading to a specific form of parasitism in blowflies known as myiasis, where larvae develop on or within a vertebrate. We modeled myiasis-associated traits, including trophic specialization (obligatory parasitism, facultative parasitism and saprophagy), larval food substrate (necrotic, fresh or both) and developmental temperature (constant, variable or both), across the blowfly phylogeny. Our results suggested that the ancestral state of blowflies likely encompassed saprophagy or facultative parasitism, with larvae developing in corpses or necrotic tissues from wounds in either homeothermic or heterothermic hosts. Furthermore, our analysis highlights the role of facultative parasitism as an intermediate step..., , , # Origins and diversification of Myasis across blowflies

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.nzs7h4522](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.nzs7h4522)

## Description of the data and file structure

This dataset contains the raw data, phylogenetic tree, and scripts required to replicate analyses in Cardoso and Cunha et al accepted in Ecology and Evolution. We investigated the tempo and mode of vertebrate parasitism (myiasis) evolution across blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) by modeling the rate and direction of change individually for three categorical traits: (i) trophic specialization, (ii) larval food substrate, and (iii) larval developmental temperature. We used BayesTraits v4.0.1 to conduct a discrete multistate trait evolution analysis to estimate ancestral states and transition rates.

### Files and variables

Below is a summary of the included files:

1. **Phylogenetic Tree File**
* `Complete_tree.tre`: phylogenitic tree generated with comprising 61 calliphorid species and thre...