Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.0p2ngf2c8

Description of the data and file structure

We use the clonal raider ant Ooceraea biroi to investigate whether the developmental plasticity of caste-associated traits is strictly tied to plasticity in body size, or whether the static allometries of these traits themselves can shift. Additionally, we test whether static allometry differs among three closely related clonal genotypes—A, B, and M.

Experiment 1:

To assess environmental effects on intercaste development and trait allometry, we established four experimental conditions. Ten colonies with line B caregivers were maintained at 28°C and fed every 48 hours with 16 frozen Solenopsis invicta pupae and/or larvae (i.e., well-fed). Ten colonies with line A caregivers were also well-fed at 28°C, while another ten were well-fed but kept at 23°C. A fourth set of ten colonies with line A caregivers was maintained at 28°C but subjected to a restricted feeding regime (i.e., fed every 96 hours with only eight S. invicta pupae and/or larvae). These four conditions varied by caregiver genotype, temperature, or feeding frequency, enabling us to test the influence of each environmental factor on the likelihood of intercaste development, body size, and the allometric relationship between body size and caste morphology.

Experiment 2:

To evaluate differences in average body size among clonal lines A, B, and M, we used a previously published dataset (Jud et al., 2022, Proceedings of the Royal Society B) that measured adult body length under standardized experimental conditions.

To estimate trait-to-body-size allometries for the three clonal genotypes, we assessed body size, ovariole number, and eye development in 100 ants from each of three stock colonies representing line A (C16), line B (STC14), and line M (BG14). For each colony, 40 ants were haphazardly collected, and the ten largest individuals (based on qualitative assessment) were sampled. This procedure was repeated ten times to obtain 100 ants per stock colony.

Files and variables

DatasetS1.xlsx (separate file). Test of plasticity in the static allometry of caste traits. Sheet 1 contains body size measurements and scores for ovariole and vestigial eye morphology for sampled individuals of clonal line B reared across various environmental backgrounds, which varied in caregiver genotype, temperature, and food availability. Sheet 2 includes raw body size measurements of individual body segments (head, thorax, petiole, gaster) for all ants. Sheet 3 includes additional data on colony-level traits, such as the number of days it took for >50% of larvae in the colony to become prepupae, the number of callows eclosed per colony, and intercaste proportions. Caste score 0 = less than 4 ovarioles; Caste score 1 = 4 or more ovarioles; Eyes column: 0 = absent; 1 = present. Bodysize = length (mm) of head, thorax, and first tergum from dorsal view.

DatasetS2.xlsx (separate file). Test of genotypic effects on body size. Set of previously published data (Jud et al., 2022), which includes the measured body lengths of focal individuals of three different clonal genotypes (A, B, and M) reared in identical conditions. Line_W = genotype of caregiving workers; Line_L = genotype of larvae; bodylength = distance from the most anterior part of the head to the posterior end of the gaster in dorsal view.

DatasetS3.xlsx (separate file). Test of genotypic effects on the static allometry of caste traits. Dataset for body size measurements and scores for ovariole and vestigial eye morphology for sampled individuals from three different clonal genotypes (A, B, and M). Ovarioles score 0 = less than 4 ovarioles; Ovarioles score 1 = 4 or more ovarioles. Bodysize = length (mm) of head, thorax, and first tergum from dorsal view.

Piekarski_PNAS.R: R code for statistical analyses (separate file). R file, outlining statistical tests employed in this study (Piekarski2025_PNAS.R). This R code contains all statistical analyses referenced in the main text, as well as power analyses.

CSV_file_S1.csv (separate file). Input file for statistical analyses related to the experiment testing for allometric plasticity. This metadata file, for use in R, contains each sample’s colony ID, body size index, ovariole score, eye score, and assigned experimental condition.

CSV_file_S2.csv (separate file). Input file for statistical analyses related to testing for genotypic differences in body size in a controlled environment. This dataset is from Jud et al. (2022). Dataset for body size measurements. CSV meta file for use in R, containing each sample’s colony identification, body length, and assigned experimental condition.

CSV_file_S3.csv (separate file). Input file for statistical analyses related to genotypic differences in static allometry. This metadata file, formatted for use in R, contains each sample’s genotype, body size index, ovariole score, and eye score.

Code/software

R Studio

Access information

Other publicly accessible locations of the data:

• None

Data was derived from the following sources:

• Dataset S2 is data originally published in Jud et al., 2022. Data available from the Dryad Digital Repository: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n02v6wx0v