Out‐of‐Africa origin and dispersal‐mediated diversification of the butterfly genus Junonia (Nymphalidae: Nymphalinae)

Abstract

The relative importance of dispersal and vicariance in the diversification of taxa has been much debated. Within butterflies, a few studies published so far have demonstrated vicariant patterns at the global level. We studied the historical biogeography of the genus Junonia (Nymphalidae: Nymphalinae) at the intercontinental level based on a molecular phylogeny. The genus is distributed over all major biogeographical regions of the world except the Palaearctic. We found dispersal to be the dominant process in the diversification of the genus. The genus originated and started diversifying in Africa about 20 Ma and soon after dispersed into Asia possibly through the Arabian Peninsula. From Asia, there were dispersals into Africa and Australasia, all around 5 Ma. The origin of the New World species is ambiguous; the ancestral may have dispersed from Asia via the Beringian Strait or from Africa over the Atlantic, about 3 Ma. We found no evidence for vicariance at the intercontinental scale. We argue that dispersal is as important as vicariance, if not more, in the global diversification of butterflies.

Evolutionary Trends in Phenotypic Elements of Seasonal Forms of the Tribe Junoniini (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

“…To contrast pattern element data between seasonal forms, parsimony character state reconstructions were mapped to an existing tree topology based on a molecular phylogeny for tribe Junoniini (Kodandaramaiah and Wahlberg 2007) and mirrored to draw comparisons between seasonal forms.…”

“…(Kodandaramaiah 2009). The tribe is estimated to have evolved approximately 30-40 million years ago originating in Africa and spreading throughout Asia and Oceania primarily (Wahlberg et al 2005;Kodandaramaiah and Wahlberg 2007). Most of the genera diverged approximately 25 million years ago with the exception of Yoma and Protogoniomorpha which split approximately 5 million years later (2006).…”

New Guinea highland origin of a widespread arthropod supertramp

“…The few existing studies suggest, for example, unidirectional colonization of New Guinea and Melanesia out of Eurasia via Wallacea (Leys et al 2002;Kodandaramaiah & Wahlberg 2007), or out of Australia (Balke et al 2007a;Braby & Pierce 2007) followed by recent local radiations. Comparative studies on terrestrial species with ranges spanning the entire, vast region between southeast Asia and Oceania have not been undertaken to date.…”

<b>A taxonomic study of six species of the genus <I>Junonia</I> Hübner, [1819] (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) from the northwestern Himalayan region in India</b>

“…A perusal of literature reveals that no consolidated account is available on wing venation and genitalia of Junonia Hübner (Kumar et al 2007). To this date, the taxonomy of Junonia is somewhat unstable (Kodandaramaiah & Wahlberg 2007;Neild 2008;Brévignon 2009;Kodandaramaiah 2009). …”

“…The genus is distributed over all major biogeographical regions of the world except the Palaearctic (Kodandaramaiah & Wahlberg 2007).…”