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FAUNAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE AS SHOWN BY INSECTS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

Gerald R. Noonan
Gerald R. Noonan*
Affiliation:
Invertebrate Zoology Section, Milwaukee Public Museum, 800 West Wells Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA 53233
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Abstract

The supercontinent of Pangaea, which once included most lands, fragmented during the Mesozoic. By the Late Cretaceous there were two northern land masses that were strikingly different from those of present day: Asiamerica consisting of present western North America and Asia; and Euramerica comprising Europe and eastern North America. Mild climates facilitated the spread of terrestrial organisms within each of these land masses, but epicontinental seas hindered movements between Europe and Asia and between eastern and western North America.The insects of Euramerica presumably once formed a fauna extending from eastern North America to Europe that differed from the fauna of Asiamerica. The opening of the North Atlantic separated insects in Europe from those in eastern North America. This produced vicarious patterns, with some insects of eastern North America now being more closely related phylogenetically to those of Europe than to those of western North America. Most groups of insects have not been examined for such trans-Atlantic vicariances, but studies reviewed in this paper suggest such relationships for some groups of Collembola, Hemiptera, Homoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera.The last suitable land connections between Europe and eastern North America were severed approximately 20–35 million years ago. The insects separated by this severance evolved at different rates. Some groups split in this way have apparently undergone little evolution and have the same species on both sides of the North Atlantic, but other vicarious groups have differentiated into taxa that are now distinct at specific and supra-specific levels.The opening of the North Atlantic probably split both tropical- and temperate-adapted insects in Euramerica. However, without fossil data it is difficult to identify the biogeographical patterns resulting from such splitting of the tropical-adapted groups. Most presently recognized European and eastern North American vicarious patterns of insects were probably caused by division of Euramerica rather than dispersal across Beringia.

Résumé

Le Pangaea, super continent qui aurait été formé de presque toutes les terres, s'est fragmenté durant le Mésozoïque. Au Crétacé, il y avait deux masses nordiques de terres qui différaient de façon marquée des masses actuelles : L'Asiamerica, comprenant l'ouest de l'Amérique du Nord actuelle et l'Asie; et l'Euramerica, comprenant l'Europe et l'est de l'Amérique du Nord. Le climat doux facilitait la dispersion des organismes terrestres à l'intérieur des masses, mais les mers épicontinentales empêchaient les mouvements entre l'Europe et l'Asie, et entre l'est et l'ouest de l'Amérique du Nord.Les insectes d'Euramerica formaient présumément une faune couvrant l'est de l'Amérique du Nord jusqu'en Europe, différente de celle d'Asiamerica. L'ouverture de l'Atlantique Nord a séparé les insectes d'Europe de ceux de l'est de l'Amérique du Nord. Sont apparus des modes de vicariance par lesquels, certains insectes de l'est d'Amérique du Nord ressemblant plus à ceux d'Europe qu'à ceux de l'ouest de l'Amérique du Nord. La plupart des groupes d'insectes n'ont pas encore été étudiés avec l'objectif de mettre en évidence ces vicariances, mais des études examinées ici suggèrent de telles relations pour certaines groupes de Collembola, Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Diptera et Hymenoptera.Les derniers ponts de terre utilisables entre l'Europe et l'est de l'Amérique du Nord furent coupés il y a environ 25–35 millions d'années. Les insectes ainsi séparés ont évolué à des rythmes différents. Certains groupes ont apparemment peu évolué, ayant des espèces communes aux deux côtés de l'Atlantique Nord. D'autres groupes se sont différenciés en taxons distincts aux niveaux spécifique ou supra-spécifique.L'ouverture de l'Atlantique Nord a probablement scindé des espèces qui en Euramerica étaient pré-adaptées aux climats tropical ou tempéré. Cependant, en l'absence de fossiles, il est difficile d'identifier les patrons biogéographiques résultant de cette séparation pour les groupes pré-adaptés au climat tropical. La plupart des cas de vicariance reconnues impliquant l'Europe et l'est de l'Amérique du Nord résultent probablement de la division de l'Euramerica plutôt que d'une migration par le Beringia.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada , Volume 120 , Supplement S144 , 1988 , pp. 39 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1988

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