Global biogeography since Pangaea

Abstract

The breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea over the past ~180 million years has left its imprint on the global distribution of species and resulted in vicariance-driven speciation. Here we test the idea that the molecular clock dates, for the divergences of species whose geographic ranges were divided, should agree with the palaeomagnetic dates for the continental separations. Our analysis of recently available phylogenetic divergence dates of 42 pairs of vertebrate taxa, selected for their reduced ability to disperse, demonstrates that the divergence dates in phylogenetic trees of continent-bound terrestrial and freshwater vertebrates are consistent with the palaeomagnetic dates of continental separation.