Phylogeny and biogeography Eupholidoptera Mařan (Orthoptera,Tettigoniidae): morphological speciation in correlation with the geographical evolution of the eastern Mediterranean

Recently, the systematics and biogeography of the Mediterranean biota have received much attention. This paper deals with Eupholidoptera Ma?an, a Mediterranean lineage of Tettigoniidae. The genus is restricted to the northern and eastern basin of the Mediterranean, with a significant number of species found on the Aegean islands. To produce a phylogeny and use it to make assumptions about the historical biogeography of Eupholidoptera, material of 46 species from several collections was studied. A phylogenetic analysis based mainly on morphological characters suggested two lineages in the genus: the E. chabrieri and the E. prasina groups. Based on the consistency between historical geographical events and branching events on the phylogenetic tree, Eupholidoptera is assumed to have evolved from an ancestor present in the Aegeid plate in the Mid‐Miocene. The division of the Aegeid plate into Anatolia and Greece in the Tortonian, the reoccurrence of terrestrial corridors between these mainlands in the Messinian, the regression of the Aegean area in the Pliocene and sea level changes in the Pleistocene are assumed to have been the main palaeogeographical events directing speciation in Eupholidoptera. As most of the species are allopatric, vicariance is suggested to be the main pattern. By combining the nature of the characters used in the phylogenetic analysis, the phylogenetic tree produced and the biogeographical assumptions, four tentative conclusions can be made: (i) radiation in the genus is a result of divergence in morphology; (ii) because the main character source is male genitalia, there has possibly been intensive sexual selection, which leads to morphological speciation; (iii) as the difference in temporal parameters of the song is prominent in sympatric/parapatric species pairs only, co‐occurrence is suggested to be the main reason driving divergence in the song; (iv) there seems to be a negative correlation between the size of the distribution range and the evolutionary rate in speciation; this may be the reason why the E. prasina group (restricted to a small part of the range of the genus) is more diverse than the E. chabrieri group, which is distributed over the entire range.