Data for manuscript: Extinction pulse at Eocene–Oligocene boundary drives diversification dynamics of the two Australian temperate floras

The diversification dynamics of the Australian temperate flora remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate whether differences in plant richness in the southwest Australian biodiversity hotspot (SWA) and southeast (SEA) regions of the Australian continent can be attributed to higher net diversification, more time for species accumulation, or both.

We assembled dated molecular phylogenies for the 21 most species-rich flowering plant families found across mesic temperate Australia, encompassing both SWA and SEA regions, and applied a series of diversification models to investigate responses across different groups and time scales.

We show that the high richness in SWA can be attributed to a higher net rate of lineage diversification and more time for species accumulation. Different pulses of diversification were retrieved in each region. A decrease in diversification rate across major flowering plant lineages at the Eocene–Oligocene boundary (c. 34 Ma) was witnessed in SEA but n...