Phylogenomics of Manticorini tiger beetles supports ancient Gondwanan vicariance and recent American amphitropical disjunction

Abstract

Disjunct distributions have long fascinated biologists, particularly those found in the Southern Hemisphere. Gondwanan vicariance has been invoked to explain these patterns, with relatively limited studies having phylogenetically tested this hypothesis. Another intriguing pattern of disjunction involving South America is the American amphitropical distribution, where Western Hemisphere taxa have close relatives either north or south of the tropics. While better known in plants, this pattern is rarely proposed for animals and only phylogenetically tested in a handful of studies on hymenopteran insects. The Manticorini is a tribe of large-bodied, flightless tiger beetles whose members possess a complex distribution pattern attributable to both Gondwanan vicariance and American amphitropical disjunction. Using genomic-scale data we perform phylogenetic analyses to produce a time-calibrated evolutionary history of the Manticorini. With the resultant time tree we perform ancestral range reconstruction in order to recover the historical biogeography of this group. Our results show deep divergence between most manticorine genera, contrasted with young crown ages indicative of recent diversification. Our analyses support Gondwanan vicariance and amphitropical disjunction resulting from recent dispersal as part of the historical biogeography of the tribe. These findings highlight the role of both vicariance and dispersal in shaping diversification and complex modern distributions.