Historical relationships among Neotropical endemic areas based on Sepedonea (Diptera: Sciomyzidae) phylogenetic and distribution data

Abstract

The present study used the previously defined relationships among the snail-killing species of Sepedonea as the starting point for a cladistic biogeography analysis of endemic areas in the Neotropical region. The goal of the study was to use two different data sets to test the possible monophyly of two important biomes in the region: the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest. The possible historical significance of the arid biomes was also investigated. The study used Brooks Parsimony Analysis (Primary BPA). The area groups were based on previous biogeographical classifications of the Neotropial region. The analyses showed Amazonia to be non-monophyletic whereas the Atlantic forest was found to be a natural unit. The importance of including dry areas in the analyses, was highlighted by Sepedonea individuals that probably inhabit enclaves of humid forest present in the area. In general, the results indicate incongruence with the prior pattern of area relationships. In fact, one single history of the current distribution of organisms in the region is unlikely. This situation has been supported by several studies proposing incongruent hypotheses of historical relationships between endemic areas of the region

Evolutionary biogeography of South American weevils of the tribe Naupactini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

“…Gomes de Carvalho et al . () suggested that the uplift of the Brazilian Central Plateau in the late Pliocene–early Pleistocene may have caused the isolation and differentiation of this area and may have split a former Amazonian plus Atlantic+Parana forests biogeographical unit (Costa, ; Nihei & Carvalho, ; Sigrist & Carvalho, ; Pires & Marinoni, ). Silva () and Costa () assumed that the Cerrado gallery forests harbour many Atlantic and Amazon species.…”

“…Biogeographical analyses integrating both forest and open biomes of South America are uncommon (e.g. Costa, ; Sigrist & Carvalho, ; Pires & Marinoni, ; Morrone, ), even though South American forests support high levels of biodiversity and suffer the most severe deforestation in the world (Laurence, ). We have undertaken a preliminary evolutionary biogeographical analysis of South America based on records of a group of broad‐nosed weevils, the tribe Naupactini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), which includes more than 600 species and 65 Neotropical genera (O'Brien & Wibmer, ; Wibmer & O'Brien, ).…”

Cladistic biogeography of theNeotropical region: identifying the main events in the diversification of the terrestrial biota

“…The open biomes have been also analysed recently (Ramos and Melo, ; Werneck, ), but their integration with analyses of the areas with forest biomes is rare (e.g. Sigrist and Carvalho, ; Pires and Marinoni, ; Costa, ).…”

Track analysis of the Neotropical Entimini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae)

“…This represents an example of dynamic vicariance, where climatic changes act displacing gradually a biotic component (Zunino 2003). Vicariance between the Amazonian and Parana subregions has been already detected by recent analyses (Costa 2002;Morrone 2002;Nihei & Carvalho 2004, 2007Sigrist & Carvalho 2009;Pires & Marinoni 2010), although patterns appear to be more complex. Costa (2002) found that the Amazonian and Parana forests were not exclusive in terms of their mammal species, overlapping broadly with Chacoan taxa.…”

“…Costa (2002) found that the Amazonian and Parana forests were not exclusive in terms of their mammal species, overlapping broadly with Chacoan taxa. Nihei & Carvalho (2007) and Pires & Marinoni (2010) hypothesized that the Amazonian subregion might be a composite area.…”