Around the world in 10 million years: rapid dispersal of a kleptoparasitoid spider wasp (Pompilidae: Ceropales)

Aim: Our aim was to estimate the historical biogeography of the kleptoparasitoid genus Ceropales and to determine the processes leading to its current worldwide distribution. We tested hypotheses of dispersal and vicariance scenarios underlying its widespread distribution.

Location: Worldwide.

Methods: Data from two nuclear markers (the D2–D3 regions of the 28S ribosomal RNA and long-wavelength rhodopsin) and one mitochondrial marker (cytochrome c oxidase I) for 52 specimens of Ceropales were used to reconstruct a dated phylogeny based on Bayesian inference. Two calibration points were used from previous analyses including all pompilids under a lognormal relaxed molecular clock to estimate lineage divergence times. We compared the fit of 12 biogeographical models, modifying the base BioGeoBEARS models to include a dispersal adjacency matrix. Base BioGeoBEARS models allow different cladogenetic processes: DEC (subset sympatry, narrow vicariance), DIVALIKE (narrow and wide vicarianc...