Evidence from Australian mesic zone dung beetles supports their Gondwanan origin and Mesozoic diversification of the Scarabaeinae. Supplemental Material

The
evolution of dung beetles remains contentious with two hypotheses reflecting
Cretaceous and Paleo­gene origins driven by different methods. We explore
biogeographic evidence and phylogeographic origins against vicariance and
dispersal scenarios that attribute to the four elements of the Australian fauna
using a multi-gene approach. Maximum-likelihood and Bayesian analyses supported
the Australasian clade, com­posed of almost all Australian, New Caledonian and
New Zealand endemic genera (to the exclusion of Bo­letoscapter). Two
Australian lineages with east-west splits and few lineages with restricted,
non-overlapping distrbution were identified, and biogeography models provided
evidence that vicariance and founder event speciation are important processes
in the diversification of Australasian scarabaeines. Our phylogenetic results
are largely congruent with a mid-Cretaceous origin of the Australasian clade,
the tectonic history of Gondwanaland and climatic history of the Australian
continent, and provide compelling evidence that Australian dung beetles are a
relictual fauna whose history is linked to mesic zone fragmentation.

关于粪金龟类的进化问题，学界存在争议，其中两种假说分别基于白垩纪和古近纪的起源，并采用不同的研究方法。本研究通过多基因方法，探讨了生物地理证据和系统地理起源，对比了分异和扩散场景，这些场景归因于澳大利亚生物群落中的四个要素。最大似然法和贝叶斯分析支持了澳新大陆群，该群组由几乎所有澳大利亚、新喀里多尼亚和新西兰的特有属组成（除Boletoscapter属外）。识别出了两个具有东西分叉的澳大利亚谱系和少数分布受限、不重叠的谱系，生物地理模型提供了证据，表明分异和奠基事件是澳新大陆犀金龟类多样化过程中的重要机制。我们的系统发育研究结果与澳新大陆群在中白垩纪起源的观点相一致，与冈瓦纳大陆的构造历史以及澳大利亚大陆的气候历史相符，并提供了令人信服的证据，表明澳大利亚粪金龟类是一群残余生物群落，其历史与湿润区域碎片化密切相关。