Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 85 (3): 335-338, 2012
FORUM
Historical biogeography of the Fanniidae (Insecta, Diptera): A commentary on the age
of the family
In a study on Fanniidae biogeography, Dominguez & Roig-Juñent (2011)
argued that the family had a Pangeic origin, Late Jurassic/early Cretaceous (~146 Ma). However, recent literature on Diptera supports
that Schizophora radiation occurred during Cenozoic. Fanniidae is a widespread taxon and it was interpreted under the maximum
vicariance paradigm; the consequence was an analysis with no alternative hypothesis, but Pangeic origin. We verified that Fanniidae
historical narrative was incongruent with the Gondwana sequential break-up. A second analysis, assuming the Fanniidae origin during
early Paleocene (65 Ma), showed congruence with recent geological events and with the Muscidae diversification, a closely related
Muscoidea family. Our hypothesis suggests that the Fanniidae originated in Paleogene and they were affected by few events of
vicariance and several expansions during Cenozoic.
Key words:
BPA, DIVA,
molecular clock, TreeFitter.
