Evolutionary Diversification and Biogeography of an Australian fauna, revealed by a near-complete species level molecular phylogeny of diving beetles

• Applicant: Dr. Michael Balke
• Subject Area: Evolution, Anthropology
• Term: from 2008 to 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 70693913

The Australian fauna is charismatic and highly endemic on the species level. Moreover, Australia and adjacent areas (e.g. New Guinea, Fiji) house many endemic radiations, characterizing the Australian biogeographic region. Yet, only few large scale molecular phylogenetic analyses sought to unravel the spatial and temporal evolution of the fauna, and especially the megadiverse insects remain little studied. Here, we use diving beetles to reveal the evolutionary diversification of a morphologically, ecologically and presumably phylogenetically diverse group of insects. For most of the Australian radiations, our species level coverage is higher than 85%, a unique sampling to date. The dense sampling will enable us to estimate diversification rates and tempi in several replicas and of groups in different climatic zones (tropical versus temperate) and geological settings (old continental landmasses / versus recent upfolds or oceanic islands). Thus, common patterns or differences in the evolution of faunal diversity can be detected, possibly allowing to identify key innovations and/or regional abiotic factors boosting or retarding the diversification process. Our experimental setup will provide extensive empirical data on the faunal evolution of an entire biogeographical region, embedded in the global framework of our world dytiscid data set. We expect to reveal a complex scenario of the faunal diversification reflecting the highly diverse and mobile geographical setting of the study region.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants