DOI: 10.5061/dryad.mcvdnckb4
title: Ongoing human-mediated spread and hybridization of two major invasive termite species

description: Human-mediated biological invasions can lead to introgressive
 hybridization events between lineages that have evolved independently,
 with potential for evolutionary, ecological, economic, and social impacts.
 This study provides evidence for the ongoing spread and hybridization
 between two major invasive and destructive termite pest species,
 Coptotermes gestroi and C. formosanus, in Florida. Heterospecific
 courtship behavior between alates (winged reproductive caste) of the two
 species has led to the establishment of F1 hybrid colonies in the field,
 which have matured and produced F1 hybrid alates. Laboratory backcross
 attempts confirmed the possibility for F1 hybrid female alates to
 establish viable F2 colonies with males of either parental species. With
 the recent documentation of introgressive hybridization between the two
 species in Taiwan, the current study confirms its independent occurrence
 in Florida, demonstrating that both Coptotermes species can hybridize in
 areas where their distributions overlap. In Florida, the proximity of
 field-established hybrid colonies to the large leisure boat industry
 implies that Florida populations of C. gestroi, C. formosanus, and their
 hybrids will continue to serve as a bridgehead source of propagules for
 further dispersal beyond their current distribution, with a potential for
 F1 Hybrids to spread outside of Florida. 
description: # Ongoing human-mediated spread and hybridization of two major invasive
 termite species Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.mcvdnckb4](10.5061/dryad.mcvdnckb4) ## Description of the
 data and file structure Data for: Proceedings of the Royal Society B:
 10.1098/rsp.2025-0413 Ongoing human-mediated spread and hybridization of
 two major invasive termite species Thomas Chouvenc, Ericka E. Helmick,
 Alvin Brown, Joseph F. Velenovsky IV, Sang-Bin Lee, Johnalyn M. Gordon,
 Brian W. Bahder, Nan-Yao Su, and Hou-Feng Li. ###### File 1: 1-Chouvenc et
 al 2025 PRSB hybrid termite alate data This data represents the average
 number of alates collected over 3 years (2022-2024). The first column
 represents the day of the year, the second column represents the species
 type, and the fourth column represents the average number of alates
 collected per day. ###### File 2: 2-Chouvenc et al 2025 PRSB Hybrid
 termite growth data This data represents the colony growth in laboratory
 conditions of different mating combinations after 1 year and after 2
 years. The census is represented by the number of workers in each viable
 colony. This includes the two parental colonies, the two hybrid mating
 combinations, and the viable F2 colonies of different mating combinations.
 genetic info in file 4. ###### File 3: 3-Chouvenc et al 2025 PRSB Termite
 Hybrid molecular ID alates output Structure output from alates using 3
 microsatellite markers and COII markers. See supplementary materials for
 HRMA protocol. This demonstrates the genetic diagnosis of alates. ######
 File 4: 4- Chouvenc et al 2025 PRSB Termite Hybrid molecular ID colonies
 output Structure output from workers from lab F1 and F2 mating
 combination, and also includes 5 individuals collected from the field.
 Using 3 microsatellite markers and COII markers. See supplementary
 materials for HRMA protocol. This demonstrates the genetic diagnostics of
 workers in the lab and in the field. ### Files and variables #### File:
 1-Chouvenc\_et\_al\_2025\_PRSB\_hybrid\_termite\_alate\_data.csv
 **Description:** This data represents the average number of alates
 collected over a 3-year period (2022-2024) in South Florida in a single
 location with a light trap. ##### Variables * date of a given year. This
 is a proxy date variable that combines all three years' data to
 summarize the actual day the alates were collected. 2022 is used as a base
 value, which can be ignored, but the mm/dd values are valid as actual
 dates from early February to mid-June. * Species: alates for which the
 species were collected on each of the days, which includes *C. gestroi*,
 *C. formosanus*, and either of the Hybrid combinations. * Average number
 of alates collected over 3 years of trapping (2022-2024): for any given
 day, this is the average number of alates collected for a given species,
 over the 3 years of monitoring. #### File:
 2-Chouvenc\_et\_al\_2025\_PRSB\_Hybrid\_termite\_growth\_data.csv
 **Description:** This data represents the colony growth in laboratory
 conditions of different mating combinations after 1 year and after 2
 years. With parental species, the F1 and F2 generations. ##### Variables *
 Mating combination: This variable indicates the mating combination between
 *C. gestoi* and *C. formosanus*, with F1Hyb G representing *C. gestroi x
 C. formosanus* and F1Hyb F representing *C. formosanus x C. gestroi*  *
 Census: indicating if the recording was made 1 or 2 years after the
 colony's foundation * Number of workers: number of workers recorded
 in each colony of origin at year 1 and year 2 after colony foundations
 #### File:
 3-Chouvenc\_et\_al\_2025\_PRSB\_Termite\_Hybrid\_molecular\_ID\_alates\_output.csv **Description:**  Structure output from alates using 3 microsatellite markers and COII markers. See supplementary materials for HRMA protocol.  ##### Variables * year collected: When was the alate sample collected * individual: type of sample (here all alates) * source: If collected in the field (in this case, all ) * sample: ID assigned for the molecular analysis * Ancestry assigned to *C. gestroi* (3 microsat): output from STRUCTURE, using 3 microsatellites identified from the HRMA approach, with the model output assigning the ratio of genes being assigned to *C. gestroi* * Ancestry assigned to *C. formosanus* (3 microsat): output from STRUCTURE, using 3 microsatellites identified from the HRMA approach, with the model output assigning the ratio of genes being assigned to *C. formosanus* * CoII ID: CoII gene identified from the HRMA approach to determine maternal ancestry * type Diagnostics: Confirmation of the type of individuals from both mitochondrial and nuclear data, to molecularly ID any of the samples as one of the parental species, a F1 hybrid #### File: 4-\_Chouvenc\_et\_al\_2025\_PRSB\_Termite\_Hybrid\_molecular\_ID\_colonies\_output.csv **Description:** Structure output from workers from lab F1 and F2 mating combination, and also includes 5 individuals collected from the field. Male and female species/type indicate the source individuals used as kings and queens for each of the colonies ##### Variables * male: Either *C. gestroi, C. formosanus*, or F1 Hybrid individuals (King), female: Either *C. gestroi, C. formosanus* or F1 Hybrid individuals (Queen) * Source: Lab colony with known ancestry or field colony with unknown ancestry * Colony of origin: ID of colony for each number used. All samples below belong to one of the colonies with a numeric ID. * sample: Sample # assigned to each worker used for molecular ID confirmation * Ancestry assigned to *C. gestroi* (3 microsat): output from STRUCTURE, using 3 microsatellites identified from the HRMA approach, with the model output assigning the ratio of genes being assigned to *C. gestroi* * Ancestry assigned to *C. formosanus* (3 microsat): output from STRUCTURE, using 3 microsatellites identified from the HRMA approach, with the model output assigning the ratio of genes being assigned to *C. formosanus* * CoII ID:  CoII gene identified from the HRMA approach to determine maternal ancestry * Mating type diagnostic: type Diagnostics: Confirmation of the type of individuals from both mitochondrial and nuclear data, to molecularly ID any of the sample as one of the parental species, a F1 hybrid, or a F2 hybrid. ## Code/software Allele identification from HRM profiles was converted as discrete variables for STRUCTURE (version 2.3.4), which was used to determine the probability of assignment of ancestry for each individual, with k = 2 reflecting the two parental species of origin, 10,000 burn-in steps, and 100,000 data collection steps. An admixture model with correlated allele frequencies was used. ## Access information NA