Data from: Phylogenomics using target-restricted assembly resolves intra-generic relationships of parasitic lice (Phthiraptera: Columbicola)

Parasitic "wing lice" (Phthiraptera: Columbicola) and their dove
and pigeon hosts are a well-recognized model system for coevolutionary
studies at the intersection of micro- and macroevolution. Selection on
lice in microevolutionary time occurs as pigeons and doves defend
themselves against lice by preening. In turn, behavioral and morphological
adaptations of the lice improve their ability to evade host defense. Over
macroevolutionary time wing lice tend to cospeciate with their hosts; yet,
some species of Columbicola have switched to new host species.
Understanding the ecological and evolutionary factors that influence
coadaptation and codiversification in this system will substantially
improve our understanding of coevolution in general. However, further work
is hampered by the lack of a robust phylogenetic framework for Columbicola
spp. and their hosts. Previous attempts to resolve the phylogeny of
Columbicola based on sequences from a few genes provided limited support.
Here we apply a new approach, target restricted assembly, to assemble 977
orthologous gene sequences from whole-genome sequence data generated from
very small, ethanol-preserved specimens, representing up to 61 species of
wing lice. Both concatenation and coalescent methods were used to estimate
the species tree. These two approaches yielded consistent and
well-supported trees with 90% of all relationships receiving 100% support,
which is a substantial improvement over previous studies. We used this new
phylogeny to show that biogeographic ranges are generally conserved within
clades of Columbicola wing lice. Limited inconsistencies are probably
attributable to intercontinental dispersal of hosts, and host switching by
some of the lice.