Abstract
- The Philippines are an archipelago composed of oceanic islands originating from different island arcs, and a few pieces of continental origin. The continental fragments can be found in N Palawan, the Calamian Islands, W Mindoro and W Panay. This study aims at answering the question whether traces can be found of a terrestrial fauna travelling on these fragments to the east to become part of the Philippine fauna. A phylogenetic analysis of the genusColadenia(Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) based on morphological characters has been carried out. Three methods for detecting distribution patterns have been applied and compared, viz. Page's Tree Reconciliation, Brooks Parsimony Analysis, and a method similar to character optimization and here called Area Optimization. It is concluded that there is evidence of a continental element in the Philippine fauna. The (expected) generality of this pattern can only be demonstrated when more phylogenetic analyses of relevant groups become available.
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