title: The towering orogeny of New Guinea as a trigger for arthropod megadiversity.
abstract: Early studies on Melanesian mountain systems provided insights for fundamental evolutionary and ecological concepts. These island-like systems are thought to provide opportunities in the form of newly formed, competition-free niches. Here we show that a hyperdiverse radiation of freshwater arthropods originated in the emerging central New Guinea orogen, out of Australia, about 10 million years ago. Further diversification was mainly allopatric, with repeated more recent colonization of lowlands as they emerged in the form of colliding oceanic island arcs, continental fragments and the Papuan Peninsula, as well as recolonization of the central orogen. We unveil a constant and ongoing process of lineage accumulation while the carrying capacity of the island is about to be reached, suggesting that lineage diversification speed now exceeds that of landmass/new ecological opportunity formation. Therefore, the central orogeny of New Guinea acts as a motor of diversification for the entire region.
authors.affiliation: Zoologische Staatssammlung München, Münchhausenstraße 21, D-81247 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Emmanuel F A
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Toussaint
authors.affiliation: Southeast Asia Research Group, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.affiliation: Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Müggelseedamm 301, 12587 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Monaghan
authors.affiliation: Papua New Guinea Institute for Biological Research, 441 Goroka, Papua New Guinea.
authors.forename: Katayo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sagata
authors.affiliation: New Guinea Binatung Research Centre, 511 Madang, Papua New Guinea.
authors.forename: Sentiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ibalim
authors.affiliation: Naturhistorisches Museum, Burgring 7, A-1010 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Helena V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Shaverdo
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK [2] Division of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK.
authors.forename: Alfried P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Vogler
authors.affiliation: IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies, c/Miquel Marquès 21, 07190 Esporles, Spain.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pons
authors.affiliation: 1] Zoologische Staatssammlung München, Münchhausenstraße 21, D-81247 Munich, Germany [2] GeoBioCenter, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, 80333 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Balke
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004463:Ecology; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009512:New Guinea; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography