Josep Quintana Cardona

• Biodiversity Journal, 6 (4): 851-854

  Josep Quintana Cardona, Guillem X. Pons & Jesús Santana Benítez
  Reconciling the molecular clock and biogeography: an alternative view of the divergence process between Allognathus Pilsbry, 1888 and Hemicycla Swainson, 1840 (Pulmonata Helicidae)

  ABSTRACT
  The fragmentation of the Hercynian shield, which occurred between the Oligocene and Miocene explains satisfactorily the process of divergence between the Helicoidea genus Allognathus (endemic to the Balearic Islands) and Hemicycla Swainson, 1840 (endemic to the Canary Islands). The process of divergence of the common ancestor of Allognathus Pilsbry, 1888 and Hemicycla began with the separation of the Balearic islands and Kabylias. Our alternative biogeographic hypotheses suggest that the ancestor of Hemicycla colonized the Canary Islands from North Africa, once the Kabylias joined the African continent.

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