Data from: Macroevolutionary assembly of ant/plant symbioses: Pseudomyrmex ants and their ant-housing plants in the Neotropics

Symbioses include some of the clearest cases of coevolution, but their origin, loss, or reassembly with different partners can rarely be inferred. Here we use ant/plant symbioses involving three plant clades to investigate the evolution of symbioses. We generated phylogenies for the big-eyed arboreal ants (Pseudomyrmecinae), including 72% of their 286 species, as well as for five of their plant host groups, in each case sampling >61% of the species. We show that the ant-housing Vachellia (Mimosoideae) clade and its ants co-diversified for the last 5 Ma, with some species additionally colonized by younger plant-nesting ant species, some parasitic. An apparent co-radiation of ants and Tachigali (Caesalpinioideae) was followed by waves of colonization by the same ant clade, and subsequent occupation by a younger ant group. Wide crown and stem age differences between the ant-housing genus Triplaris (Polygonaceae) and its obligate ant inhabitants, and stochastic trait mapping, indicate that its domatium evolved earlier than the ants now occupying it, suggesting previous symbioses that dissolved. Parasitic ant species evolved from generalists, not from mutualists, and are younger than the mutualistic systems they parasitize. Our study illuminates the macroevolutionary assembly of ant/plant symbioses, which has been highly dynamic, even in very specialized systems.共生作用（symbioses）是协同进化（coevolution）最清晰的例证之一，但其起源、丢失或是与不同伙伴重新组装的过程却鲜有研究能够准确推断。本研究以涵盖三个植物演化支的蚁植共生体系为研究对象，旨在解析共生作用的演化规律。我们构建了大眼树栖伪切叶蚁亚科（Pseudomyrmecinae）的系统发育树，该类群共计286个物种，采样覆盖率达72%；同时还构建了5个植物宿主类群的系统发育树，每个类群的物种采样覆盖率均超过61%。研究表明，提供蚁巢的金合欢属（Vachellia，含羞草亚科Mimosoideae）演化支与其共生蚂蚁在过去500万年中发生了协同分化，部分物种还被更年轻的营植物筑巢的蚂蚁类群定植，其中包含若干寄生性类群。蚂蚁与云实亚科（Caesalpinioideae）塔伊木属（Tachigali）看似发生了协同辐射，随后该蚂蚁演化支经历了多波次的宿主定植事件，最终被更年轻的蚂蚁类群所占据。提供蚁巢的蓼科（Polygonaceae）三蕊木属（Triplaris）与其专性共生蚂蚁之间存在显著的冠群与基群年龄差异，结合随机性状映射分析结果可知，该属的植生蚁巢结构（domatium）的演化时间早于当前定植其中的蚂蚁类群，这暗示此前曾存在共生体系但随后解体。寄生性蚂蚁类群均起源于泛食性类群，而非互利共生类群，且其分化时间晚于其所寄生的互利共生体系。本研究阐明了蚁植共生体系的宏观演化组装过程，即便是高度特化的共生体系，其演化历程也极具动态性。