Neat and clear: 700 species of crane flies (Diptera: Tipulomorpha) link southern South America and Australasia

Abstract

A biogeographical analysis of crane flies (Diptera, Tipulomorpha) in the southern hemisphere is used to test if their distribution patterns provide evidence of biogeographical homology (shared history) in the South Pacific. Crane fly distributions are interpreted in light of patterns of endemism and diversity and published phylogenetic studies. A panbiogeographical approach, assuming that repeating distribution patterns strongly suggest the existence of past connections between the areas (biogeographical homology), is used. A clear pattern is revealed in which crane fly taxa shared between southern South America, New Zealand and Australia are restricted to that region. Thirty genera and subgenera, together comprising about 700 species, occur in both South America and Australasia and only in these areas. This distribution defines the limits of the South Pacific Track, a standard biogeographical pattern displayed by many taxa, including the southern beeches (Nothofagus). Although the distribution of some taxa spans the entire track, others are present in parts of the areas only, forming a nested set of distributions. Within the surveyed genera and subgenera, all individual species are endemic to one single region or continent, suggesting vicariance as the main process behind crane fly disjunctions in this part of the world. The nested set of distribution patterns could be explained by extinctions in areas where taxa were present previously. Alternatively, it may indicate historical absences and the existence of a heterogeneous set of ancestral distributional ranges. ‘Gondwanan’ may not be the best term for the observed disjunctions, which should be labelled as trans‐Pacific instead. Recent molecular estimates of divergence times suggest a Permian origin of the earliest extant Diptera lineages such as the Tipulomorpha, followed by fast radiation in the Triassic. Although the differentiation of some crane fly groups occurring in the region may have been driven by recent Mesozoic and Cenozoic events of continental breakup, as least part of the fauna may have evolved allopatrically in response to older events. This may explain the overlapping distribution of subgenera in large genera such as Gynoplistia.

Phylogeny, divergence times and biogeography of window flies (Scenopinidae) and the therevoid clade (Diptera: Asiloidea)

“…) is the repeated divergences between Australasian and New World (primarily South American) therevoid clade lineages during the Late Cretaceous and early Palaeogene (65–50 Ma). During this time Australia and South America were connected through a forested Antarctica in which considerable faunal and floral exchange occurred (Sanmartín & Ronquist, ; Ribeiro & Eterovic, ; Sharma & Giribet, ). Our reconstruction shows a simultaneous range expansion between the Australasia and South America (or the New World) in Apsilocephalidae (57 Ma), Agapophytinae, Therevinae (55 Ma), Neopseudatrichia and Belosta ( Stenomphrale + Pseudatrichia ) (48 Ma) and Riekiella and Irwiniana + ( Heteromphrale + Brevitrichia ) (55 Ma).…”

Parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE) revisited

“…Glasby & Álvarez, ; De Grave, ; Goldani et al ., ; Katinas et al ., ; Espinosa et al ., ; Fattorini, ; Albert & Carvalho, ). A few analyses have used politically defined areas (Cué‐Bär et al ., ; Nelson, ; Ribeiro & Eterovic, ), areas defined by physiographical criteria (Aguilar‐Aguilar et al ., , ; Espinosa et al ., ; Huidobro et al ., ) or even arbitrary operational units (van Soest, ). Morrone () proposed the use of grid cells when the objective of the analysis was to identify areas of endemism, and they have become a frequently used unit (e.g.…”

Tropical Amphi-Pacific disjunctions in the Cladocera (Crustacea: Branchiopoda)

“…In spiders (Penney and Selden, 2011), the group Micropholcommatinae (Anapidae) is found in Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, New Caledonia, South America and occurs in fossils in French Cenozoic Amber, as well as the Synotaxidae (Australia and Central and South America and Baltic amber) and the Huttoniidae (extant species in New Zealand, but Cretaceous specimens in Canada; Penney . Ribeiro and Eterovic (2011) counted an impressive total of 700 species of crane flies (Diptera: Tipulomorpha) belonging to 30 genera and subgenera, that are shared between South America and Australasia. In keropelatid flies, Matile (1990) explored connections between Western North America and SE Asia in the Robsonomyiini and South America-Australia/New Zealand disjunctions (e.g.…”