Data from: Synchronous diversification of Sulawesi's iconic artiodactyls driven by recent geological events

The high degree of endemism on Sulawesi has previously been suggested to have vicariant origins, dating back 40 Myr ago. Recent studies, however, suggest that much of Sulawesi’s fauna assembled over the last 15 Myr. Here, we test the hypothesis that more recent uplift of previously submerged portions of land on Sulawesi promoted diversification, and that much of its faunal assemblage is much younger than the island itself. To do so, we combined palaeogeographical reconstructions with genetic and morphometric data sets derived from Sulawesi’s three largest mammals: the Babirusa, Anoa, and Sulawesi warty pig. Our results indicate that although these species most likely colonized the area that is now Sulawesi at different times (14 Myr ago to 2-3 Myr ago), they experienced an almost synchronous expansion from the central part of the island. Geological reconstructions indicate that this area was above sea level for most of the last 4 Myr, unlike most parts of the island. We conclude that emergence of land on Sulawesi (~1–2 Myr) may have allowed species to expand synchronously. Altogether, our results indicate that the establishment of the highly endemic faunal assemblage on Sulawesi was driven by geological events over the last few million years.

此前学界曾提出，苏拉威西岛的高度特有性起源于距今4000万年前的异域分化事件。然而近期研究表明，该岛绝大多数动物区系组合的形成过程发生在过去1500万年中。本研究旨在验证如下假说：此前被海水淹没的苏拉威西岛区域在近期发生抬升，这一过程推动了物种多样化进程；且该岛绝大多数动物类群的形成时间远早于岛屿本身的形成时间。为此，我们结合古地理重建结果，以及取自苏拉威西三大哺乳类动物——鹿豚（Babirusa）、倭水牛（Anoa）与苏拉威西疣猪（Sulawesi warty pig）的遗传与形态测量数据集开展分析。结果显示，尽管这三个物种殖民现今苏拉威西区域的时间存在差异（距今1400万年至200万~300万年不等），但它们均近乎同步地从岛屿中部区域启动种群扩张。地质重建结果表明，与该岛多数区域不同，过去400万年的多数时段内，岛屿中部区域始终高于海平面。我们据此推断，苏拉威西岛陆地区域的出露（距今约100万~200万年）可能促成了这些物种的同步扩张。综上，本研究结果表明，苏拉威西岛高度特有动物区系组合的形成，是由过去数百万年间的地质事件所驱动的。