Data from: Transoceanic origin of microendemic and flightless New Caledonian weevils
Cite this dataset
Toussaint, Emmanuel F.A. et al. (2017). Data from: Transoceanic origin of microendemic and flightless New Caledonian weevils [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vq31g
Abstract
The origin of the astonishing New Caledonian biota continues to fuel a heated debate among advocates of a Gondwanan relict scenario and defenders of late oceanic dispersal. Here, we study the origin of New Caledonian Trigonopterus flightless weevils using a multimarker molecular phylogeny. We infer two independent clades of species found in the archipelago. Our dating estimates suggest a Late Miocene origin of both clades long after the re-emergence of New Caledonia about 37 Ma. The estimation of ancestral ranges supports an ancestral origin of the genus in a combined region encompassing Australia and New Guinea with subsequent colonizations of New Caledonia out of New Guinea in the mid-Miocene. The two New Caledonian lineages have had very different evolutionary trajectories. Colonizers belonging to a clade of foliage dwellers greatly diversified, whereas species inhabiting leaf-litter have been less successful.
Usage notes
Location
Melanesia
New Caledonia