BIOGEOGRAPHY OF INDO-PACIFIC CICADOIDEA: A TENTATIVE RECOGNITION OF AREAS OF ENDEMISM

Abstract— The biogeography of the cicadas of the Indo-Pacific is discussed in relation to paleogeography and compared with distribution patterns found in other groups of organisms. The cicadas show a low degree of endemism in the mainland of southeast Asia and the Greater Sunda Islands, and a high degree of endemism in Sulawesi, New Guinea, and the islands of the west Pacific. The biogeography of the cicadas of these regions with high endemism is analyzed for four groups: the subtribe Cosmopsaltriaria, the tribe Prasiini, the genus Baeturia , and the Pacific Cryptotympanini. A review of the paleogeography of the Indo-Pacific, specifying the relevant barriers, island arcs, and land connections, is provided. The recognized areas of endemism are tentatively related to the geological history of the Indo-Pacific. Areas of endemism are the Sulawesi Arcs and the Outer and Inner Melanesian Arcs. New Guinea appears to be a composite of areas of different origin: the central mountains of the Inner Melanesian Arc, the north-coast mountains of the Outer Melanesian Arc, and the Vogelkop area, which is of uncertain origin. The Papuan Peninsula of New Guinea seems to be a zone of overlap between the Outer and the Inner Melanesian Arcs. The Pacific archipelagos of the Outer Melanesian Arcs (viz., the Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and the Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa Islands) represent distinct areas of endemism. The taxon-area cladogram of the Cosmopsaltriaria gives some indication of the relationships among the areas of endemism. The discussion is extended to groups of bats, frogs, psocids, butterflies, and moths of the Melanesian Arcs, as their patterns of distribution seem equally relevant for the recognition of the biogeographic interrelationships in the Indo-Pacific.