Dataset for Cruz-Laufer et al. (2021) Explosive networking: the role of adaptive host radiations and ecological opportunity in a species-rich host-parasite assembly. Abstract: Many species-rich ecological communities emerge from adaptive radiation events. The effects of this explosive speciation on community assembly remain poorly understood. Here, we explore the well-documented radiations of African cichlid fishes and their interactions with the flatworm gill parasites Cichlidogyrus spp., including 10529 reported infections and 477 different host-parasite combinations collected through a survey of peer-reviewed literature. We assess how evolutionary, ecological, and morphological parameters determine host-parasite meta-communities affected by adaptive radiation events through network metrics, host repertoire measures, and network link prediction. The hosts’ evolutionary history mostly determined host repertoires of the parasites. Ecological and evolutionary parameters determined host-parasite interactions. Generally, ecological opportunity and fitting have shaped cichlid-Cichlidogyrus meta-communities suggesting an invasive potential for hosts used in aquaculture. Meta-communities affected by adaptive radiations are increasingly specialised with higher environmental stability. These trends should be verified across other systems to infer generalities in the evolution of species-rich host-parasite networks.

Data collection started within the BRAIN-be Pioneer Project BR/132/PI/TILAPIA (Belgian Federal Science Policy Office) under the supervision of Tine Huyse and Jos Snoeks and the Knowledge Management Centre project CiMonoWeb (Royal Museum for Central Africa) under the supervision of Tine Huyse with the kind help of Wouter Fannes. Part of the research leading to results presented in this publication was carried out with infrastructure funded by the European Marine Biological Research Centre (EMBRC) Belgium, Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) project GOH3817N. AJCL (BOF19OWB02) and MPMV are funded by the Special Research Fund of Hasselt University (BOF20TT06).