Data from: Cuticular hydrocarbons as potential mediators of cryptic species divergence in a mutualistic ant association

Upon advances in sequencing techniques, more and more morphologically identical organisms are identified as cryptic species. Often, mutualistic interactions are proposed as drivers of diversification. Species of the Neotropical parabiotic ant association between Crematogaster levior and Camponotus femoratus are known for highly diverse cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profiles, which in insects serve as desiccation barrier but also as communication cues. In the present study we investigated the association of the ants' CHC profiles to genotypes and morphological traits, and discovered cryptic species pairs in both genera. To assess putative niche differentiation between the cryptic species, we conducted an environmental association study that included various climate variables, canopy cover, and mutualistic plant species. Although mostly sympatric, the two Camponotus species seem to prefer different climate niches. However in the two Crematogaster species, we could not detect any differences in niche preference. The strong differentiation in the CHC profiles may thus suggest either a possible role during speciation itself by inducing assortative mating, or by reinforcing sexual selection after the speciation event. We did not detect any further niche differences in the environmental parameters tested. Thus, it remains open how the cryptic species avoid competitive exclusion, with scope for further investigations.COI Alignment C. leviorAlignment of COI barcoding sequences Crematogaster leviorClev_Alignment_COI.fastaCOI Alignment C. femoratusAlignment of COI barcoding sequences of Camponotus femoratusCfem_Alignment_COI.fastaC. femoratus Alignment ant1 (BEAST)Alignment of nuclear marker "ant.1". Contains all individuals for which all 4 nuclear markers and the mitochondrial marker COI were sequenced successfully. Used for analysis with BEAST to compute a phylogeny based on 5 loci.Cfem_Alignment_BEAST_ant1.fastaC. femoratus Alignment ant.389 (BEAST)Alignment of nuclear marker "ant.389". Contains all individuals for which all 4 nuclear markers and the mitochondrial marker COI were sequenced successfully. Used for analysis with BEAST to compute a phylogeny based on 5 loci.Cfem_Alignment_BEAST_ant389.fastaC. femoratus Alignment ant.1087 (BEAST)Alignment of nuclear marker "ant.1087". Contains all individuals for which all 4 nuclear markers and the mitochondrial marker COI were sequenced successfully. Used for analysis with BEAST to compute a phylogeny based on 5 loci.Cfem_Alignment_BEAST_ant1087.fastaC. femoratus Alignment ant.1401 (BEAST)Alignment of nuclear marker "ant.1401". Contains all individuals for which all 4 nuclear markers and the mitochondrial marker COI were sequenced successfully. Used for analysis with BEAST to compute a phylogeny based on 5 loci.Cfem_Alignment_BEAST_ant1401.fastaC. femoratus Alignment COI (BEAST)Alignment of mitochondrial marker COI. Contains all individuals for which all 4 nuclear markers and the mitochondrial marker COI were sequenced successfully. Used for analysis with BEAST to compute a phylogeny based on 5 loci.Cfem_Alignment_BEAST_COI.fastaC. femoratus Alignment ant.1Alignment of nuclear marker "ant.1", Camponotus femoratusCfem_Alignment_ant1.fastaC. femoratus Alignment ant.389Alignment of nuclear marker "ant.389", Camponotus femoratusCfem_Alignment_ant389.fastaC. femoratus Alignment ant.1087Alignment of nuclear marker "ant.1087", Camponotus femoratusCfem_Alignment_ant1087.fastaC. femoratus Alignment ant.1401Alignment of nuclear marker "ant.1401", Camponotus femoratusCfem_Alignment_ant1401.fastaChemical data from Hartke, Sprenger et al. 2019This file includes compositional data for cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of Crematogaster levior and Camponotus femoratus, as well as for polar secondary metabolites of Cr. levior.Definitions of Morphologial TraitsThis file contains explanations how morphological measurements of Crematogaster levior and Camponotus femoratus were executed.Crematogaster morphometry measurementsThis file contains morphometric measurements for specimen of the two cryptic Crematogaster levior species. The abbrevations can be found in the 'Definitions of Morphological Traits' file.Crematogaster_morphometry_measurements.csvCamponotus morphometry measurementsThis file contains morphometric measurements for specimen of the two cryptic Camponotus femoratus species. The abbrevations can be found in the 'Definitions of Morphological Traits' file.Camponotus_morphometry_measurements.csvCrematogaster morphometry R scriptThis file contains a R script for the multivariate ratio analysis we conducted for Crematogaster levior.Crematogaster_morphometry_script.RCamponotus morphometry R scriptThis file contains a R script for the multivariate ratio analysis we conducted for Camponotus femoratus.Camponotus_morphometry_script.RMorphometrics functionsThis file contains R functions needed to conduct the multivariate ratio analyses._Morphometrics_functions.