Molecular evidence for dispersal rather than vicariance as the origin of flightless insect species on the Chatham Islands, New Zealand

Aim The aim was to use mitochondrial DNA sequence data to test between vicariance and oversea dispersal explanations for the origin of the Chatham Islands biota. Location New Zealand and the Chatham Islands, separated by c. 800 km in the south-west Pacific Ocean. Methods DNA sequences from the mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase I (COI) were obtained from four genera of relatively large and flightless insects (Coleoptera-Geodorcus, Mecodema; Orthoptera-Talitropsis; Blattoidea-Celatoblatta). These were used to test alternative hypotheses for the origin of the Chatham taxa. Results Phylogenetic analysis revealed the Chatham taxa in each genus to be monophyletic. Genetic distances exhibited by these genera, between taxa found on the Chatham Islands and mainland New Zealand were relatively low (11.2, 2.8, 3.0 and 4.9%, respectively). Main conclusions Even allowing for variation in molecular evolutionary rates, these genetic distances indicate phylogetic separation of New Zealand and Chatham insect lineages in the Pliocene (2-6 Ma). Such dates are more than one order of magnitude too recent to be explained by vicariant (tectonic) processes. Oversea dispersal from New Zealand to the Chatham Islands is implicated and this conclusion is in keeping with the taxonomy of the endemic avifauna, flora and fossil molluscan fauna.