Diversity-dependent effects likely influenced the diversification of species-rich crown ant subfamilies during the Cenozoic

This is the supplemental data associated with the publication: Diversity-dependent effects likely influenced the diversification of species-rich crown ant subfamilies during the Cenozoic Abstract:Disentangling the influence of biotic interactions from abiotic environmental changes is a centralchallenge in macroevolution. While ant evolutionary history has been widely studied, often in relationto abiotic factors or plant associations, the role of intra- and inter-lineage interactions, whethercompetitive or facilitative, remains poorly understood. In this study, we use birth–death modelswithin a Bayesian framework, integrating both fossil and extant data, to investigate how interactionsbetween the five most species-rich crown ant subfamilies may have shaped their diversificationduring the Cenozoic. Our results suggest that negative intraclade interactions, within Dolichoderinae,Dorylinae, Formicinae, and Ponerinae, likely affected their diversification. We detect a signal ofinteractions between Formicinae and Myrmicinae, and Dolichoderinae and Dorylinae, possiblyreflecting long-term co-evolutionary dynamics. Notably, contrary to earlier hypotheses suggestingcompetition between Ponerinae and Myrmicinae, our results indicate a facilitative interactionbetween these two groups, but also between Formicinae and Dolichoderinae, and Ponerinae andMyrmicinae, suggesting that coexistence sometimes promotes rather than inhibits diversification.Overall, our study provides the first assessment of diversity-dependent effects on the evolutionaryhistory of ants, establishing biotic interactions as a fundamental and quantifiable force in shapingmacroevolutionary patterns of one of Earth's most successful animal groups.