DOI: 10.5061/dryad.h18931zth
title: A double-edged sword: evolutionary novelty along deep-time diversity oscillation in an iconic group of predatory insects (Neuroptera: Mantispoidea)

description: Evolutionary novelties are commonly identified as drivers of lineage
 diversification, with key innovations potentially triggering adaptive
 radiation. Nevertheless, testing hypotheses on the role of evolutionary
 novelties in promoting diversification through deep time has proven
 challenging. Here we unravel the role of the raptorial appendages, with
 evolutionary novelties for predation, in the macroevolution of a predatory
 insect lineage, the Superfamily Mantispoidea (mantidflies, beaded
 lacewings, thorny lacewings, and dipteromantispids), based on a new dated
 phylogeny and quantitative evolutionary analyses on modern and fossil
 species. We demonstrate a single origin of the raptorial foreleg and its
 associated novelties as key innovations triggering an early radiation of
 raptorial mantispoids from the Late Triassic to the Early Jurassic.
 Subsequently, the evolution of the raptorial foreleg influenced the
 diversification in different modes among lineages. At times, it might have
 limited the morphological diversity of other body parts and led to lineage
 constraint by intensifying competition and lowering environmental
 resilience, e.g., in thorny lacewings, whose extant diversity is meager.
 Conversely, in mantidflies, reduced emphasis on foreleg novelties and
 increased plasticity in other body parts may lead to better adaptation to
 predator-prey interactions and environmental shifts, thus maintaining a
 stable or accelerated level of diversification. We also reveal how major
 environmental change and lineage interactions interplay with raptorial
 novelties in shaping the significant oscillations of mantispoid
 diversification over deep time, especially the abrupt shift near the
 mid-Cretaceous. However, by excluding a substantial portion of samples
 from the mid-Cretaceous of Myanmar, these shifts of some evolutionary
 parameters, such as morphological disparity, body size, and
 diversification rates, became inconspicuous and might be overestimated due
 to sampling bias. Our results uncover the intricate evolutionary patterns
 and profound significance of raptorial specializations, providing new
 insights into the role of novelties in forming evolutionary trajectories,
 both for the better and worse.
description: # A Double-edged Sword: Evolutionary Novelty along Deep-time Diversity
 Oscillation in An Iconic Group of Predatory Insects (Neuroptera:
 Mantispoidea)
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h18931zth](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h18931zth) ## Description of the data and file structure **README:** **A Double-edged Sword: Evolutionary Novelty along Deep-time Diversity Oscillation in An Iconic Group of Predatory Insects (Neuroptera: Mantispoidea)** The data provided consists of the original morphological datasets (three .nex files compressed as the .zip), original morphological figures (.jpg files compressed as .zip), original input and output data of phylogenetic analyses (compressed as .zip), original input and output data of morphospace analyses (compressed as .zip), original input and output data of diversification rate analyses (compressed as. zip) and original R scripts. ### Files and variables #### **File: Phylogenetic\_analyses.zip** **Description:** It includes the input and output data of maximum parsimony analyses, maximum likelihood analyses, and non-clock and clock Bayesian inferences. #### File: Morphospace\_analyses.zip **Description:** It includes all input and output data of morphospace analyses: morphological distance matrices, PCoA values, morphospace 3D interactive graphics, the files of the ratio of different partition data to whole morphological datasets, and input files and data used for all morphospace analyses. #### File: Morphological\_dataset.zip **Description:** It refers to the dataset containing three original morphological .nex dataset files. We coded 232 discrete adult characters covering the head, thorax, legs, wings, and genitalia respectively for 146, 143, and 132 taxa. #### File: Diversification\_rates.zip **Description:**  It includes input and output data of fossil-BAMM analyses, MBD, and MCDD analyses in PyRate. #### File: Morphological\_figures.zip **Description:** It refers to the high-definition original morphological figures for the exhibition of representative characters in morphological datasets, including 54 .jpg figures in total. ## Access information For more information or if you just want to talk noctis please do not hesitate to contact me (Xingyue Liu) at [liuxingyue@cau.edu.cn](mailto:liuxingyue@cau.edu.cn)