DOI: 10.5061/dryad.mpg4f4rd5
title: Data from: Evolution of female ornamentation in dance flies: valuable gifts are worth dressing up for

description: Elaborate female ornaments are rare in nature. One explanation for this is
 that female investment in ornamentation may take away crucial resources
 from other costly life history traits, such as fecundity, for which there
 is likely to be a higher fitness return. However, this trade-off between
 ornaments and fecundity may be less severe in species where the males
 offer the female an edible nuptial gift during mating. The nutrition
 gained from mating may make attracting mates with elaborate ornaments more
 cost-effective for the female. We investigated this link in dance flies in
 which there is large variation in nuptial gifts, as well as female
 ornaments. The dataset includes categorical values of the level female
 ornamentation per species, based on inspected museum specimens, as well as
 the categorical level of nuptial gift value based on previously published
 dance fly literature. The dataset also includes a COI/CAD-based
 phylogenetic tree of all the dance fly species included in the study, as
 well as the R script for the analyses. Our phylogenetic analysis showed
 that nuptial gift value is positively associated with the evolution of
 female ornaments. We found that species which lack nuptial gifts have no
 ornaments, and high levels of female ornamentation has evolved most
 frequently in species with a reliable access to an edible nuptial gift
 with each mating. Our results also suggest that female ornaments have most
 likely evolved following the evolution of nuptial gifts. We argue that the
 added benefits from each mating have helped the females to overcome the
 costs associated with the development and maintenance of ornaments.
description: # Data from: Evolution of female ornamentation in dance flies: valuable
 gifts are worth dressing up for Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.mpg4f4rd5](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.mpg4f4rd5) ##
 Description of the data and file structure This dataset is a part of the
 manuscript “Evolution of female ornamentation in dance flies: valuable
 gifts are worth dressing up for”. The species-level data is collected in
 2022-2024 from previously published literature (nuptial gift data) and
 inspection of museum specimens. ### Files and variables #### File:
 empid-data.csv **Description:** Main data file ##### Variables * Species:
 Dance fly species * DetailedGiftData: A binary category if the species in
 question had several published observations or several individuals
 observed about their use/lack of nuptial gifts. * GiftScore: Categorical
 classes assigned for the average value of nuptial gift in the species. 1 =
 mating does not involve a nuptial gift, 2 = mating can happen with or
 without a nuptial gift, 3 = mating always involves a nuptial gift, but it
 may be inedible, 4 = mating involves an edible nuptial gift, and 5 =
 mating involves a particularly large edible nuptial gift. *
 GiftBin: Binary value for presence/absence of nuptial gift. *
 Gift3: Alternative categorical classes for nuptial gift value. 1 is the
 same as in GiftScore, 2 includes GiftScore values 2-3 combined, 3 includes
 GiftScore values 4-5 combined. * Scales: Original scoring for the level of
 pinnate scaling in the legs of the female. The femur and tibia of each leg
 pair were scored accordingly: 0 = no pinnate scales; 1 = very small
 pinnate scales; 2 = medium pinnate scales, slightly shorter than the width
 of that leg segment; 3 = large pinnate scales, same length or longer than
 the width of the leg segment. The potential combined maximum pinnate score
 for a given species was 18 (the maximum score of 3*2 segments*3 legs). *
 Wingcolor: Categorical classes assigned for the level of sexual dimorphism
 in the female wing color. 0 = no differences in wing color between male
 and female; 1 = female wing is slightly darker than male wing, 2 = female
 wing is clearly darker than male wing, and 3 = female wing has a large
 black pattern compared to the male wing. * Wingshape: Categorical classes
 assigned for the level of sexual dimorphism in the female wing shape. 0 =
 no differences in wing shape between male and female; 1 = female wing is
 slightly wider than male wing, 2 = female wing is clearly wider than male
 wing, and 3 = female wing is wider in an exaggerated manner compared to
 the male wing. * Sacs: Categorical classes assigned for the presence of
 inflatable abdominal sacs in the female. 0 = regular abdominal membrane, 1
 = unusual folds or protrusions in the abdominal membrane, and 2 =
 confirmed inflatable sacs. * SacsBin: Binary value for presence/absence of
 abdominal sacs. * WingBin: Binary value for presence/absence of any
 ornamentation in the female wings. * OrnamentBin: Binary value for
 presence/absence of any ornaments in the female. * OrnamentScore: ombined
 value of all ornamental traits calculated using the following formula (PS
 = pinnate scale score, WC = wing color score, WS = wing shape score, AS =
 abdominal sac score): (PS/15 + [WC+WS]/6 + AS/2)/3 #### File:
 empid_COI_CAD.tree **Description:** Phylogenetic tree based on available
 COI and CAD sequences for the dance fly species used in the study, as well
 as the outgroup.  #### File: empid-code.R **Description:** R script file
 for the main analyses. #### File: BayesTraits-code.txt
 **Description:** Code used for the BayesTraits program for the
 evolutionary transition analysis. #### File: emptree-BT.trees
 **Description:** Trimmed phylogenetic tree used in the BayesTraits
 analysis. #### File: emp_binary.txt **Description:** Binary trait file for
 the BayesTraits analysis, with only presence/absence of nuptial gifts and
 female ornaments for each dance fly species. ## Code/software Software: R
 version 4.5.0 (2025-04-11) attached base packages: stats graphics
 grDevices utils datasets methods base other attached packages: loo_2.8.0
 reshape2_1.4.4 lubridate_1.9.4 forcats_1.0.0 stringr_1.5.1 dplyr_1.1.4
 purrr_1.0.4 readr_2.1.5 tidyr_1.3.1 tibble_3.2.1 ggplot2_3.5.2
 tidyverse_2.0.0  phytools_2.4-4 maps_3.4.2.1 ape_5.8-1 brms_2.22.0
 Rcpp_1.0.14 Software: BayesTraits V4.1.3 (Sep 27 2024)