Original paper
Amphi-Atlantic Species-Pairs in Two Genera of Water Striders (Hemiptera: Gerridae)
Schaefer, Carl W.; Calabrese, Diane M.
Entomologia Generalis Volume 6 Number 2-4 (1980), p. 271 - 280
44 references
published: Nov 3, 1980
DOI: 10.1127/entom.gen/6/1980/271
ArtNo. ESP146000602015, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
Evidence is presented that the closest relative of each of four Nearctic water striders is another species in the Palearctic. Three of these species-pairs occur in Gerris Fabricius 1794 and the fourth in Limnoporus Stål 1868. The evidence that each member of a pair is most closely related to the other, is both morphological and ecological. Of several possible explanations for the origin of these species-pairs, preference is given to this one: Four species of water striders were dispersed in western Europe, in eastern North America, and across a connecting land bridge, before the Eocene. After the midEocene, when the bridge was disrupted, the four species on the one continent differentiated from their conspecifics on the other continent. Eventually, there arose the species-pairs seen today.
Keywords
Nearactic water strider • Palearctic • Eocene • mid Eocene • conspecifics on the other continent