DOI: 10.5061/dryad.15dv41nxx
title: Data for: Mapping the evolution of accurate Batesian mimicry of social wasps in hoverflies

description: Hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) provide an excellent opportunity to study
 the evolution of Batesian mimicry, where defenceless prey avoid predation
 by evolving to resemble defended ‘model’ species. While some hoverflies
 beautifully resemble their hymenopteran models, others seem to be poor
 mimics or are apparently non-mimetic. The reasons for this variation are
 still enigmatic despite decades of research. Here, we address this issue
 by mapping social-wasp mimicry across the phylogeny of Holarctic
 hoverflies. Using the ‘distance transform’ technique, we calculate an
 objective measure of the abdominal pattern similarity between 167 hoverfly
 species and a widespread putative model, the social wasp, Vespula
 germanica. We find that good wasp mimicry has evolved several times, and
 may have also been lost, leading to the presence of non-mimics deep within
 clades of good mimics. Body size was positively correlated with similarity
 to the model, supporting previous findings that smaller species are often
 poorer mimics. Additionally, univoltine species were less accurate wasp
 mimics than multivoltine and bivoltine species. Hence, variation in the
 accuracy of Batesian mimics may reflect variation in the opportunity for
 selection caused by differences in prey value or signal perception
 (influenced by body size) and phenology or generation time (influenced by
 voltinism).
description: Please see corresponding manuscript for all the methods for the
 collection and processing of data.
description: <b>Dataset </b>-
 Excel file uploaded 10/08/21  The similarity of each hoverfly
 species to each wasp model according to the distance transform analysis.
 Taxa with entirely black abdomens have a similarity score of zero. Survey
 score is out of 10. 'Similarity category' refers to the
 assignment of a binary mimicry category according to the similiarity score
 threshold (0.74) for <em>Vespula germanica</em>, while
 'Literature category' refers to how the accuracy of social wasp
 mimicry is described for each hoverfly species in previous studies. There
 are four potential ecological predictors for mimicry - wing length, larval
 feeding (the diet each hoverfly species has during its larval
 stage), 'voltinism' (how often each species emerges in a year
 (univoltine, bilvoltine and multivoltine meaning once, twice and multiple
 times per year respectively)) and phenology (when each species emerges in
 a year). The key flight periods were defined as ‘early’ (March to May),
 ‘mid’ (May to July) and ‘late’ (July to September). <b>Image_sources </b>- Excel file uploaded 10/08/21 The source of each image used in this study. M = male; F = female. Internet sources: NS = naturespot.org.uk; iN = inaturalist.org; f = flickr.com; BG = bugguide.net; S = syrphidae.myspecies.info; D = diptera.info. A † indicates where the image was the only one of decent quality found for that species, and blank cells indicate that the information could not be found. <b>Species_reasoning </b>- Excel file uploaded 10/08/21 The reasoning behind why each species was selected for this study, with information on abundance, distribution and the availability of high-quality images. Homogeneity refers to to how similar abdominal colour patterns are between individuals of the same species (intraspecific) and between species within the same genus (interspecific). References: Steven Falk - flickr.com; BugGuide.net; fauna-eu.org; Francis Gilbert pers. comms.; Van Veen, M.P., 2010. <i>Hoverflies of Northwest Europe: identification keys to the Syrphidae</i>. KNNV Publishing.