Data from: Evolution and comparative ecology of parthenogenesis in haplodiploid arthropods

Changes from sexual reproduction to female-producing parthenogenesis (thelytoky) have great evolutionary and ecological consequences, but how many times parthenogenesis evolved in different animal taxa is unknown. We present the first exhaustive database covering 765 cases of parthenogenesis in haplodiploid arthropods, and estimate frequencies of parthenogenesis in different taxonomic groups. We show that the frequency of parthenogenetic lineages extensively varies among groups (0-38% among genera), that many species have both sexual and parthenogenetic lineages and that polyploidy is very rare. Parthenogens are characterized by broad ecological niches: parasitoid and phytophagous parthenogenetic species consistently use more host species, and have larger, polewards extended geographic distributions than their sexual relatives. These differences did not solely evolve after the transition to parthenogenesis. Extant parthenogens often derive from sexual ancestors with relatively broad ecological niches and distributions. As these ecological attributes are associated with large population sizes, our results strongly suggests that transitions to parthenogenesis are more frequent in large sexual populations and/or that the risk of extinction of parthenogens with large population sizes is reduced. The species database presented here provides insights into the maintenance of sex and parthenogenesis in natural populations that are not taxon specific and opens perspectives for future comparative studies.从有性生殖向产雌孤雌生殖（thelytoky）的演化转变具有深远的进化与生态意义，但目前学界尚不明确不同动物类群中孤雌生殖独立演化的次数。本研究构建了首个全面覆盖765例单倍二倍体节肢动物（haplodiploid arthropods）孤雌生殖案例的详尽数据库，并估算了不同分类群内孤雌生殖的发生频率。研究结果表明，孤雌生殖谱系的频率在各类群间存在显著差异（属级类群间占比为0至38%），诸多物种同时兼具有性生殖与孤雌生殖谱系，且多倍体现象极为罕见。孤雌生殖类群通常拥有更宽泛的生态位：相较于其有性近缘类群，寄生性与植食性孤雌生殖物种可利用的宿主物种数量更多，且地理分布范围更广袤、向极地延伸的特征更为显著。上述演化差异并非仅在转向孤雌生殖后才形成。现存孤雌生殖类群往往源自生态位与分布范围均较为宽泛的有性祖先类群。由于这些生态特征与较大种群规模密切相关，本研究结果强烈提示：孤雌生殖的演化转变在种群规模较大的有性类群中更为频繁，抑或是种群规模较大的孤雌生殖类群灭绝风险更低。本研究提供的物种数据库可为自然种群中性与孤雌生殖的维持机制提供非类群特异性的研究视角，并为未来的比较生物学研究开辟新的方向。