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Out of Africa: Miocene Dispersal, Vicariance, and Extinction within Hyacinthaceae Subfamily Urgineoideae
Author(s) -
Ali Syed Shujait,
Pfosser Martin,
Wetschnig Wolfgang,
MartínezAzorín Mario,
Crespo Manuel B.,
Yu Yan
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of integrative plant biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.734
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1744-7909
pISSN - 1672-9072
DOI - 10.1111/jipb.12065
Subject(s) - vicariance , biological dispersal , disjunct distribution , disjunct , land bridge , gondwana , biogeography , ecology , mediterranean climate , geography , biology , paleontology , phylogeography , phylogenetic tree , structural basin , population , biochemistry , demography , sociology , gene
Abstract Disjunct distribution patterns in plant lineages are usually explained according to three hypotheses: vicariance, geodispersal, and long‐distance dispersal. The role of these hypotheses is tested in Urgineoideae (Hyacinthaceae), a subfamily disjunctly distributed in Africa, Madagascar, India, and the Mediterranean region. The potential ancestral range, dispersal routes, and factors responsible for the current distribution in Urgineoideae are investigated using divergence time estimations. Urgineoideae originated in Southern Africa approximately 48.9 Mya. Two independent dispersal events in the Western Mediterranean region possibly occurred during Early Oligocene and Miocene (29.9–8.5 Mya) via Eastern and Northwestern Africa. A dispersal from Northwestern Africa to India could have occurred between 16.3 and 7.6 Mya. Vicariance and extinction events occurred approximately 21.6 Mya. Colonization of Madagascar occurred between 30.6 and 16.6 Mya, after a single transoceanic dispersal event from Southern Africa. The current disjunct distributions of Urgineoideae are not satisfactorily explained by Gondwana fragmentation or dispersal via boreotropical forests, due to the younger divergence time estimates. The flattened winged seeds of Urgineoideae could have played an important role in long‐distance dispersal by strong winds and big storms, whereas geodispersal could have also occurred from Southern Africa to Asia and the Mediterranean region via the so‐called arid and high‐altitude corridors.