2021/12/01 by David H. Hembry, Gordon M. Bennett, Gordon Bennett +13 · 51 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Archipelago #Biogeography #Biological dispersal #Biology #Clade #Ecology #Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies #Evolutionary biology #Fossil Insects in Amber #Insular biogeography #Phylogenetics #Plant and animal studies
paper · doi:10.1086/717787
published in The Quarterly Review of Biology 96(4), 247-296 (University of Chicago Press)
openalex publication_date 2021/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
The spectacular adaptive radiations on the Hawaiian Islands offer the tantalizing possibility of ascertaining the predictability of evolution, especially with regard to how the archipelago’s dynamic geology suggests a priori hypotheses for evolutionary pattern and process. In the past two decades advances in sequencing and phylogenetics have shed new light on the evolution of this model fauna. Here, we provide an overview of recent research on major endemic Hawaiian insect radiations. We find that, in contrast to earlier views, a substantial fraction of Hawaiian insect clades colonized the archipelago prior to the formation of the current high islands (5.1 Ma) and have persisted through one or more rounds of island formation and subsidence prior to the emergence of the current archipelago. Many Hawaiian insect radiations show elements of the progression rule, a null expectation where biogeographic patterns on the phylogeny mirror the chronological sequence of island formation, but few match its predictions exactly. Diversity in most radiations is shaped by a complicated interplay of among-island dispersal and within-island diversification. Finally, we find a positive relationship between clade age and species richness in Hawaiian insects, but with a great deal of variance that is likely explained by aspects of ecology and clade-specific factors.