DOI: 10.5061/dryad.d7wm37q0t
title: Data from: Functional innovation promotes diversification of form in the evolution of an ultrafast trap-jaw mechanism

description: Evolutionary innovations underlie the rise of diversity and complexity—the
 two long-term trends in the history of life. How does natural selection
 redesign multiple interacting parts to achieve a new emergent function? We
 investigated the evolution of a biomechanical innovation, the latch-spring
 mechanism of trap-jaw ants, to address two outstanding evolutionary
 problems: how form and function change in a system during the evolution of
 new complex traits, and whether such innovations and the diversity they
 beget are repeatable in time and space. Using a new phylogenetic
 reconstruction of 470 species, and X-ray microtomography and high-speed
 videography of representative taxa, we found the trap-jaw mechanism
 evolved independently 7–10 times in a single ant genus (Strumigenys),
 resulting in the repeated evolution of diverse forms on different
 continents. The trap mechanism facilitates a 6–7 order of magnitude
 greater mandible acceleration relative to simpler ancestors, currently the
 fastest recorded acceleration of a resettable animal movement. We found
 that most morphological diversification occurred after evolution of
 latch-spring mechanisms, which evolved via minor realignments of mouthpart
 structures.  This finding, whereby incremental changes in form
 lead to a change of function, followed by large morphological
 reorganization around the new function, provides a model for understanding
 the evolution of complex biomechanical traits, as well as insights into
 why such innovations often happen repeatedly.
description: See published paper for methodological details on the different
 data included in this archive.
description: ReadMe file for Booher et al., "Functional
 innovation promotes diversification of form in the evolution of an
 ultrafast trap-jaw mechanism in ants" PLoS Biology, Data
 Archive   ===Included one zip
 archive “Supplemental Data and Code Archive”
   1) Phylogenetic analyses and trees
  /ExaML/examl-fulldata  Files for running the ExaML analysis on
 the full dataset (885 specimens), and resulting files and logs
 /ExaML/examl-reducedspecies  Files for running the ExaML analysis
 on the reduced dataset of high-data species (132 specimens), and resulting
 files and logs /BEAST2_divdating_root1  Files for
 running the BEAST2 divergence dating on the fixed ML topology with root1
 position and resulting logs and mcc tree
 /BEAST2_divdating_root2  Files for running the BEAST2 divergence
 dating on the fixed ML topology with root2 position and resulting logs and
 mcc tree /TreeFiles collection of trees resulting from
 the different analyses, as presented in the figures (Fig 2 + Fig S4, S5,
 S6). Node annotations are bootstraps and booster support values.
     2) Ancestral State
 Estimation /Ancestral State Analyses_root1  folder
 including R code for the ancestral state reconstruction and associated
 data/functions assuming a “root1” node position. Also included is the xml
 and log files for reconstructing ancestral states using a relaxed clock in
 BEAST. /Ancestral State Analyses_root2  folder
 including R code for the ancestral state reconstruction and associated
 data/functions assuming a “root2” node position. Also included is the xml
 and log files for reconstructing ancestral states using a relaxed clock in
 BEAST.   3) Morphometrics
 Landmark data and R code to load them and perform a PCA
 4) Datasets 1-4   Dataset
 1: Specimens used to reconstruct the phylogeny.  Further collection
 information can be accessed by searching the specimen code on
 Antweb.org.  Dataset 2: X-Ray micro-CT images used in
 this study, with scanning parameters.   Dataset 3: 
 Detailed measurment data from the mandible closure experiments, used to
 make Figure 4A. Dataset 4:  Compilation of kinetic data
 used in Figure 4C. ======  CT Scan
 images in dicom format are included as individual Zip archives.