Deciphering the evolution of birdwing butterflies 150 years after Alfred Russel Wallace.

ABSTRACT: One hundred and fifty years after Alfred Wallace studied the geographical variation and species diversity of butterflies in the Indomalayan-Australasian Archipelago, the processes responsible for their biogeographical pattern remain equivocal. We analysed the macroevolutionary mechanisms accounting for the temporal and geographical diversification of the charismatic birdwing butterflies (Papilionidae), a major focus of Wallace's pioneering work. Bayesian phylogenetics and dating analyses of the birdwings were conducted using mitochondrial and nuclear genes. The combination of maximum likelihood analyses to estimate biogeographical history and diversification rates reveals that diversity-dependence processes drove the radiation of birdwings, and that speciation was often associated with fou

SUBMITTER: Condamine FL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4488763 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature