Evolutionary history of Massartella (Ephemeroptera, Leptophlebiidae) suggests ancient vicariant event between biotas of the Pantepui and Atlantic Forest highlands

Abstract

AbstractSouth America's complex geological and environmental dynamics contributed to the origin of Neotropical biodiversity and shaped the pattern of species distribution on the continent. Massartella Lestage (Ephemeroptera, Leptophlebiidae, Atalophlebiinae) is a genus currently composed of five species endemic to South America, with a disjunct distribution, occurring in mountains along the Atlantic Forest and in the Venezuelan Pantepui region. Here, we use Bayesian phylogenetic trees, fossil‐based molecular dating and ancestral range estimation to reconstruct the evolutionary history of Massartella. Results recovered the genus and the Pantepui and Atlantic Forest lineages as reciprocally monophyletic, and suggest that a vicariant event separated populations of the last common ancestor of these clades ca. 66 Ma, between the Middle Cretaceous and the Palaeogene. The diversification processes started at the same time in both lineages, and the reciprocal monophyly of clades indicates no subsequent connections between these areas, or the extinction of intermediates. Mountain biodiversity has the signature of both ancient and recent geoclimatic events and ecological processes that probably were responsible for isolating the Pantepui and Atlantic Forest lineages, as well as the speciation processes within these regions.