Diversification of clearwing butterflies with the rise of the Andes.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

Despite the greatest butterfly diversity on Earth occurring in the Neotropical Andes and Amazonia, there is still keen debate about the origins of this exceptional biota. A densely sampled calibrated phylogeny for a widespread butterfly subtribe, Oleriina (Nymphalidae: Ithomiini) was used to estimate the origin, colonization history and diversification of this species-rich group.

Location

Neotropics.

Methods

Ancestral elevation and biogeographical ranges were reconstructed using data generated from detailed range maps and applying the dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis model using stratified palaeogeographical time slice matrices. The pattern of diversification through time was examined by comparing constant and variable rate models. We also tested the hypothesis t

SUBMITTER: De-Silva DL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4973677 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature