Data from: A Cretaceous aged Paleotropical dispersal established an endemic lineage of Caribbean praying mantises

Recent phylogenetic advances have uncovered remarkable biogeographic histories that have challenged traditional concepts of dispersal, vicariance, and diversification in the Greater Antilles. Much of this focus has centred on vertebrate lineages despite the high diversity and endemism of terrestrial arthropods, which account for 2.5 times the generic endemism of all plants and non-marine vertebrates combined. In this study, we focus on three Antillean endemic praying mantis genera, <i>Callimantis</i>, <i>Epaphrodita</i>, and <i>Gonatista</i>, to determine their phylogenetic placement and geographic origins. Each genus is enigmatic in their relation to other praying mantises due to their morphological affinities with both Neotropical and Old World groups. We recovered the three genera as a monophyletic lineage among Old World groups, which was supported by molecular and morphological evidence. With a divergence at ~107 mya, the lineage originated during the breakup of Gondwana. Ancestral range reconstruction indicates the lineage dispersed from an African + Indomalayan range to the Greater Antilles, with a subsequent extinction in the Old World. Although not a new pattern, the profound ecomorphic convergence with non-Caribbean groups obscured recognition of natural relationships within the same geographic distribution. To the best of our knowledge, the lineage is one of the oldest endemic animal groups in the Greater Antilles and their morphological diversity and restricted distribution mark them as a critical taxon to conserve.