Genetic diversity and spatial structure of populations are important for antagonistic coevolution. We investigated genetic variation and population structure of three closely related European ant species: the social parasite Harpagoxenus sublaevis and its two host species Leptothorax acervorum and Leptothorax muscorum. We sampled populations in 12 countries and analyzed eight microsatellite loci and an mtDNA sequence. We found high levels of genetic variation in all three species, only slightly less variation in the host L. muscorum. Using a newly introduced measure of differentiation (Jost's DEST), we detected strong population structuring in all species and less male-biased dispersal than previously thought. We found no phylogeographic patterns that could give information on post-glacial colonization routes - northern populations are as variable as more southern populations. We conclude that conditions for Thompson's geographic mosaic of coevolution are ideal in this system: all three species show ample genetic variation and strong population structure.
HS_Microsats_IBDWS_format
HS_Microsats_IBDWS_format.txt has the data for H. sublaevis in the format that is required for IBDWS, most importantly, it has the pairwise distances between populations in kilometers. The numbers of the populations correspond to the the numbers in the file Hs_La_Lm_Microsats.xls
HS_for_IBDWS.txt
La_Microsats_IBDWS_format
La_Microsats_IBDWS_format.txt has the data for L acervorum in the format that is required for IBDWS, most importantly, it has the pairwise distances between populations in kilometers. The numbers of the populations correspond to the the numbers in the file Hs_La_Lm_Microsats.xls
La_for_IBDWS.txt
Lm_Microsats_IBDWS_format
Lm_Microsats_IBDWS_format.txt has the data for L muscorum in the format that is required for IBDWS, most importantly, it has the pairwise distances between populations in kilometers. The numbers of the populations correspond to the the numbers in the file Hs_La_Lm_Microsats.xls
Lm_forIBDWS.txt
Hs_La_Lm_Microsats.xls
Hs_La_Lm_Microsats.xls has all the microsatellite data for the paper in a spreadsheet. For each species there is a tab.
FoitzikEtAl2009MicrosatData.xls
Hsub_MtDNA_IBDWS_format
H sublaevis MtDNA data in IBDWS format.
Hsub_forIBDWS.fas
Hsub_MtDNA_Pops.nex
H sublaevis MtDNA sequences in nexus format with population information.
Hsub_1pernest_Pops.nex
Hsub_MtDNA_haplotypefile_Pops.nex
H sublaevis MtDNA sequences in nexus haplotype format with population information.
Hsub_1pernest_haplotypefile_Pops.nex
Lacer_MtDNA_IBDWS_format
L acervorum MtDNA data in IBDWS format
Lacer_forIBDWS.fas
Lacer_MtDNA_113seqs_Pops.nex
L acervorum MtDNA sequences in nexus format with population information.
Lacer_1pernest_113seqs_Pops.nex
Lacer_MtDNA_haplofile_113Seqs_Pops.nex
L acervorum MtDNA sequences in nexus haplotype format with population information.
Lacer_1pernest_haplofile_113Seqs_Pops.nex
Lmusc_MtDNA_IBDWS_format
L muscorum MtDNA data in IBDWS format.
Lmusc_forIBDWS.fas
Lmusc_MtDNA_79Seqs_Pops.nex
L muscorum MtDNA sequences in nexus format with population information.
Lmusc_1pernest_79Seqs_Pops.nex
Lmusc_MtDNA_haplofile_79Seqs_Pops.nex
L muscorum MtDNA sequences in nexus haplotype format with population information.
Lmusc_1pernest_haplofile_79Seqs_Pops.nex