DOI: 10.5061/dryad.w6m905qv8
title: Data from: Genetic and environmental effects on morphological traits of social phenotypes in wasps

description: Many species exhibit distinct phenotypic classes, such as sexes in
 dioecious species or castes in social species. The evolution of these
 classes is affected by the genetic architecture governing traits shared
 between phenotypes. However, estimates of the genetic and environmental
 factors contributing to phenotypic variation in distinct classes have
 rarely been examined. We studied the genetic architecture underlying
 morphological traits in phenotypic classes in the social
 wasp Vespula maculifrons. Our data revealed patriline effects on
 a few traits, indicating weak genetic influences on caste phenotypic
 variation. Interestingly, traits exhibited higher heritability in queens
 than workers. This result suggests that genetic variation has a stronger
 influence on trait variation in the queen caste than the worker caste,
 which is unexpected because queens typically experience direct selection.
 Moreover, estimates of heritability for traits were correlated between the
 castes, indicating that variability in trait size was governed by similar
 genetic architecture in the two castes. However, we failed to find
 evidence for a significant relationship between caste dimorphism and caste
 correlation, as would be expected if trait evolution was constrained by
 intralocus genetic conflict. Our analyses also uncovered variation in the
 allometric relationships for traits. These analyses suggested that worker
 traits were proportionally smaller than queen traits for most traits
 examined. Overall, our data provide evidence for a strong environmental
 and moderate genetic basis of trait variation among castes. Moreover, our
 results suggest that selection previously operated on caste phenotype in
 this species, and phenotypic variation is now governed primarily by
 environmental differences.
description: # Genetic effects and caste conflict in social phenotypes of wasps ##
 Description of the Data and file structure This data is found in four
 forms: (1) excel sheet of raw data for genotypes and phenotypes, (2) zip
 folder of image files, and (3) R code for heritability estimates, and (4)
 excel sheet of data for heritability estimates in R. The excel sheet
 includes raw data for the genotypes and phenotypes of the wasps used in
 this study. The first sheet contains all morphological data and the data
 columns are described below. Any missing data was from a wasp that had a
 missing part that could not be measured. Consequently, if all 13 traits
 were not measured for a single wasp, principal component analysis could
 not be performed. The second sheet contains all genotyping data from
 fragment analysis of 6 highly variable microsatellite markers. Missing
 data denotes that it could not be scored confidently. Further, individuals
 that could not be confidently assigned to a patriline were removed from
 the study (26 individual wasps). Thus, a total of 1476 wasps were
 genotyped and a total of 921 wasps were phenotyped in this study. The zip
 folder of image files contains images of all measured wasps from colonies
 1 and 2. This data serves as an example of how we measured each wasp under
 the microscope with various angles and dissections. Colony Each V.
 maculifrons colony was assigned a unique number (1-10) Observer Initials
 of each researcher who performed the phenotypic measurements for each
 individual wasp Caste Worker or Gyne (Queen) Patriline Each patriline is
 assigned a unique number (1-36) M Mass of wasp in milligrams BL Body
 length of wasp in micrometers FW Forewing length of wasp in micrometers
 RJA Reslin joint area length of wasp in micrometers SC1 Submarginal cell 1
 length of wasp in micrometers HW Head width of wasp in micrometers Idx
 Interorbital distance maximum of wasp in micrometers Idm Interorbital
 distance minimum of wasp in micrometers AN Antenna length of wasp in
 micrometers PW Pronotum width of wasp in micrometers GL Second tergite of
 gaster length of wasp in micrometers FL Femur length of wasp in
 micrometers TL Tibia length of wasp in micrometers TR Tarsus length of
 wasp in micrometers PC1 Principal component 1 PC2 Principal component 2
 PC3 Principal component 3 The R file contains code used to obtain
 heritability estimates with confidence intervals for each trait and each
 caste. The associated excel sheet with data used in R to obtain
 heritability estimates includes four tabs: (1) worker_pedigree, (2)
 gyne_pedigree, (3) worker_traits, and (4) gyne_traits. The pedigree tabs
 include four columns each: animal, dam, sire, and sex. The trait tabs
 include many columns beginning with animal, dam, sire, sex, individual,
 caste, and patriline, followed by 18 trait columns, which includes PC1,
 PC2, and PC3 (see above list of trait acronyms).