Too hot to handle: Cenozoic aridification drives multiple independent incursions of Schizomida (Hubbardiidae) into hypogean environments

Extensive Genetic Connectivity and Historical Persistence Are Features of Two Widespread Tree Species in the Ancient Pilbara Region of Western Australia

“…The phylogenetic trees show basal lineage diversification in both species to have occurred during the Miocene—an important period in the evolution of taxa within the Pilbara landscape [ 12 ]. Expansion of the Antarctic ice sheet and subsequent changes in precipitation during this time led to the aridification of central and north-western Australia, including the Pilbara, from the mid Miocene approximately 15 Ma [ 12 , 76 , 77 , 78 ]. It has been postulated that the topographical complexity of the Pilbara landscape provided refugia for both inter and intra-specific lineages during this aridification [ 12 ].…”

“…It has been postulated that the topographical complexity of the Pilbara landscape provided refugia for both inter and intra-specific lineages during this aridification [ 12 ]. Persistence throughout aridification allowed for the generation of highly divergent lineages now seen in the endemic flora and fauna—many of which show coalescence during this time [ 76 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 ]. The timing of basal lineage diversification observed here is considerably older than that commonly reported for tree species from the SWAFR, including the congener of C. hamersleyana , C. calophylla , which have typically shown intra-specific haplotype differentiation to occur during the climatic fluctuations associated with the later Pliocene/Pleistocene period [ 16 , 17 , 84 , 85 , 86 ].…”

A Hotspot of Arid Zone Subterranean Biodiversity: The Robe Valley in Western Australia

“…The richness of subterranean fauna in the Pilbara has been explained as partly a result of many aquatic and mesic-adapted terrestrial invertebrate species escaping the harshness of surface habitats during the Miocene aridification by moving underground, sometimes with dramatic subsequent radiation [15,16]. Schizomids are a well-documented case; these typically forest litter-dwelling animals moved into subterranean habitats as forest habitat was being lost, and then radiated in these habitats [17,18]. Equally impressive radiations have occurred, however, in stygofauna groups such as candonid ostracods [19], syncarids [20] and amphipods [21,22], which are essentially subterranean groups and would not have colonized from the surface.…”

Transitions between biomes are common and directional in Bombacoideae (Malvaceae)

“…Indeed, a link between biome transitions and increased diversification has been found in some taxa such as Fabaceae (Koenen et al, ), Proteaceae (Onstein et al, ) and Malvaceae (Areces‐Berazain & Ackerman, ), but not in others, for example, Protea (Valente et al, ). In the Neotropics, the repeated adaptation to seasonally dry habitats has been hypothesized as an important mechanism of plant diversification, in particular, in savannas (Areces‐Berazain & Ackerman, ), and in the Paleotropics aridification and transitions to seasonally dry biomes seem to have increased diversification in some groups (Abrams et al, ; García‐Aloy et al, ). Little is known for seasonally dry forests, (Dexter et al, ), which seem to be relatively isolated through time and space (Pennington & Hughes, ).…”