Scarlett Arana
February 8, 2011
GEO 4300
ENVIRONMENTAL BIOGEOGRAPHY
Literature Summary #2
1) The full citation reference for the study
Cruaud, A., Jabbour-Zahab, R., Genson, G., Couloux, A., Yan-Qiong, P., Da Rong, Y.,
Ubaidillah, R., Pereira, R. A. S., Kjellberg, F., van Noort, S., Kerdelhué, C. and
Rasplus, J.-Y. (2011), Out of Australia and back again: the world-wide historical biogeography of non-pollinating fig wasps (Hymenoptera: Sycophaginae). Journal of Biogeography, 38: 209–225.
Astrid Cruaud, Roula Jabbour-Zahab, Gwenaëlle Genson and Jean-Yves Rasplus, are with the Center of Biogologist of Gestion des Populations, Montferrier-sur Lez, France;
Arnaud Couloux, is a génoscope, with Center National de Séquençage, Evry, France;
Peng Yan-Qiong, and Yang Da Rong is with the Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest
Ecology, with the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, and Chinese Academy of
Sciences, in Yunnan, China; Rosichon Ubaidillah is with the Zoology Division and
Center Research for Biology in Bogor, Indonesia; Rodrigo Augusto Santinelo Pereira is with Departmant of Biology in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil; Finn Kjellberg is with Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, in Montpellier, France; Simon van Noort is with
Natural History Division, South African Museum, and Department of Zoology at
University of Cape Town, in Rondebosch, South Africa; Carole Kerdelhué is with UMR
BioGeCo., in Cestas, France.
2) The research problem or question (1 or 2 sentences)
Where did the basal fig wasp and Ficus lineages originate? Where did the different genera of fig wasps originate? Do specific genera of fig wasps share a common history of dispersal or vicariance with their host plants and other NPFW?
3) The general background knowledge leading up to this study (2 sentences)
Gall-inducing insects can help stimulate the development of modified plant tissues and can track their host with frequency and therefore is of key importance for a better understanding of how galler communities were structured over space and time in order to understand the phylogeny and the biogeographical history of galling lineages. The fig system allows scientists to understand the intimate association between plants and numerous galling lineages. Fig trees and their pollinating fig wasps are inter-dependent for reproduction and are suspected to have coevolved, sharing a common evolutionary history.
4) The methods used by the investigators (1 or 2 sentences)
Investigators took the taxonomy sample of 55 in group species to represent all the genera of Sycophaginae as well as most species group in order to find the geographical origin.

An analysis of 4267 bp of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA was used to produce a phylogeny of all genera of Sycophaginae.
5) The results of the study (2 sentences and one figure or table)
The results of the findings suggest that ancestor of Idarnes + Apocryptophagus migrated to
Greater India through the Ninetyeast Ridge and the ancestor of Anidarnes + Conidarnes dispersed later through Sundaland. Idarnes and Anidarnes later reached the New World through the North Atlantic land bridges during the Late Oligocene Warming Event.
Apocryptophagus reached Africa through the Arabic corridors and returned to Australasia following the expansion of Sundaland tropical forests.
(See Figure below)
6) What are the weaknesses of the study
I thought that this journal was very thorough in its research with relative few weakness points in the study. More research could be done about trends in life span, illness, weather conditions that may affect the species. Recommendation should be mention in regards in future protection of the species against anthropogenic effects and more suggest for preserving the habitat of the species.
7) What we learned new from the study (2 sentences)
Sycophaginae is an important organism that may share a common history with Ficus and their pollinators Agaonidae . I was particular interested in the reconstruction of the history how fig wasp communities were assembled and association over space and time with the propose dispersal scenarios.

Maps illustrating key dispersal events relevant to Sycophaginae biogeography. The shading represents the relief of the continents at that time. Abbreviations: E,
Eukoebelea ; Ps, Pseudidarnes ; A, Anidarnes ; C, Conidarnes ; I, Idarnes ; Ap,
Apocryptophagus ; S, Sycophaga . (a) Map 50–40 Ma. (1) Origin of the
Sycophaginae in Australia c.
50–40 Ma. Divergence between Eukoebelea and other
Sycophaginae. (2a) Divergence between Pseudidarnes + ( Anidarnes + Conidarnes ) and Idarnes + Apocryptophagus / Sycophaga . About 40–30 Ma, long-distance dispersal of the ancestor of Idarnes + Apocryptophagus / Sycophaga to continental
Asia via: (2b) the Kerguelen Plate, the Ninetyeast Ridge and Greater India (most likely hypothesis), (2b ′ ) directly to Sundaland, and (2b ″ ) Antarctica and South
America. This dispersal event could be concomitant with the dispersal of the ancestor of Anidarnes + Conidarnes and was followed by the split between Idarnes and Apocryptophagus / Sycophaga . (b) Map 40–25 Ma. (3a) Between 35 and 20 Ma, colonization of the Neotropics by the ancestor of Idarnes . This dispersal event probably occurred via the North Atlantic land bridges during the Late Oligocene
(26–23 Ma) (this is supported by an Oligocene Agaonidae fossil from Isle of Wight).
Dispersal of Idarnes and Anidarnes may have been concomitant. (3b) From 25 to
20 Ma, diversification of Apocryptophagus and shift to Sycomorus . Between 26 and
16 Ma, dispersal of the ancestor of ( Anidarnes + Conidarnes ) to continental Asia, via two potential routes (3c) the Ninetyeast Ridge and Greater India, (3c ′ ) directly through Sundaland, following the collision between the Australian and the Asian plates. (c) Map 25–5 Ma. (4a) Around 20 Ma Apocryptophagus colonized Africa via the Arabic corridors. (4b) Simultaneously, the genus dispersed to Sundaland,
Australasia and the Pacific islands. Some species reached Taiwan to the north and the Solomon Islands to the south by 10–5 Ma. (4c) 10 Ma, colonization of
Madagascar and later the Mascarene Archipelago by Afrotropical