Twenty-five years ago, it was suggested that current-day New Zealand, part of the largely sunken continent of Zealandia, could have been completely inundated during the Oligocene marine transgression (OMT) some 25-23 million years ago. Such an event would, of necessity, imply that all terrestrial, freshwater, and maybe coastal marine species must have dispersed there since. This idea has generated heated debate, on which geological, palaeontological and molecular data are being brought to bear. Here, we review the phylogeographic literature in the form of molecular estimates of divergence times between New Zealand lineages and their closest overseas sister groups. Using an event-based approach, we show that these divergence times follow approximately a smooth exponential over the last 50 Ma or more. Approximately 74 of these 248 lineages appear to have survived the OMT in situ; some of these major lineages comprise multiple additional lineages as a result of autochthonous speciation prior to the OMT. Non-volant terrestrial animals, freshwater animals and trees are particularly well represented in surviving lineages, whereas marine animals, herbs and shrubs tend to show more recent arrival times. There is no evidence for a deficit of pre-Oligocene lineages, nor an excess of ones arriving just afterwards. The pattern is one of geometric increase in new lineages with more recent time, reflecting a balance between immigration and extinction. Consequently, this large body of molecular data provides no evidence for complete inundation of New Zealand during the Oligocene. In conjunction with new geological and palaeontological findings, these data suggest that it is time to put the idea to rest.

Going under down under? Lineage ages argue for extensive survival of the Oligocene marine transgression on Zealandia.

In the present paper, we develop a new biogeographic model for the biota of the Southwest Pacific, using 76 published phylogenies for a range of island endemics or near-endemic organisms. These phylogenies were converted to areagrams by substituting distributions for taxa. Paralogy-free subtrees (3-item statements) were derived from these areagrams and used as input data into LisBeth that uses compatibility analysis and an exhaustive branch and bound algorithm to produce optimal trees. A general areagram is derived from all three-item statements common to the optimal trees. The results of the analysis show that the Melanesian Rift is not a natural biogeographic area; the islands of the Southwest Pacific are more closely related to each other than they are to Australia; and New Caledonia has had a long history of biological isolation. There is support for a general period of mobilism during the mid-Cenozoic when the biota as a whole expanded its range in response to regional uplift. By comparing the general areagram with what is known about the tectonic development of the region, it is possible to both calibrate the nodes of the areagram, and to identify points of conflict between the geological and biological data.

https://bioone.org/journals/australian-systematic-botany/volume-29/issue-6/SB16032/A-comprehensive-vicariant-model-for-Southwest-Pacific-biotas/10.1071/SB16032.pdf

A comprehensive vicariant model for Southwest Pacific biotas

. The crab spiders of the genus Diaea from Australia are revised. All the known 30 species are redescribed and illustrated. The type species of the genus — Diaea dorsata (Fabricius, 1777) (distributed in Palaearctic) is also included into this study. All the former members of Diaea from Australia changed their taxonomic position as a result of transfer to other genera. Three new genera were established: Australomisidia gen. nov., Boomerangia gen. nov. and Lehtinelagia gen. nov. Twenty new combinations are proposed: Australomisidia cruentata (L. Koch, 1874), A. elegans (L. Koch, 1876), A. ergandros (Evans, 1995), A. inornata (L. Koch, 1876), A. kangarooblaszaki (Szymkowiak, 2008), A. pilula (L. Koch, 1867), A. rosea (L. Koch, 1875), A. socialis (Main, 1988), Boomerangia dimidiata (L. Koch, 1867), Cetratus caecutiens (L. Koch, 1876), C. circumlitus (L. Koch, 1876), C. rubropunctatus (Rainbow, 1920), C. tenuis (L. Koch, 1875), Lehtinelagia evanida (L. Koch, 1876), L. multopunctata (L. Koch, 1874), L....

https://www.miiz.waw.pl/periodicals/annales-zoologici/abstracts/AZ-64-3-Abstrakty.pdf

Revision of Australian Species of the Genus Diaea (Araneae: Thomisidae) with Redefinition of Their Taxonomic Status

Research on spiders (araneology) in New Zealand has a 180-year history that began just before the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. Initially, specimens were collected and taken back to Europe to be d...

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03036758.2017.1334676

A history of araneology in New Zealand

Spider webs vary in size to meet the nutritional requirements of the resident spider with the resident’s body size strongly informing these requirements. In this way, the effect of body size on web...

A preliminary molecular phylogeny for New Zealand sheet-web spiders (Cambridgea) and comparison of web-building behaviour

We tested competing theories on the origins of the New Zealand fauna using thomisid spiders as a model group. These theories can be broadly described as old and vicariant versus young and recent (dispersal). To test these theories, a phylogenetic analysis was undertaken based on cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and 28S rRNA sequence data, with smaller datasets (histone H3, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) dehydrogenase subunit 1 and a combined dataset) used to improve resolution of internal branches. The monophyly of New Zealand thomisid subfamilies and of individual taxa were also assessed using these data. Our data supports the separation of New Zealand clades from their Australian counterparts. Evidence of recent dispersal to New Zealand by Australian stephanopines combined with our proposed maximum divergence date of 5.3 mya indicates that the New Zealand thomisids are a younger lineage than previously suspected. Several other gene targets (internal transcribed spacer units 1 and 2, wingless and 18S rRNA) were examined but did not generate sufficient reliable data to contribute to the analysis. Corrected p-distance values for COI indicate that Sidymella angularis, a widely distributed and morphologically variable stephanopine species, is a single taxon. Three undescribed endemic species exhibited molecular and morphological distinctiveness from previously described New Zealand thomisids.

A preliminary molecular analysis of phylogenetic and biogeographic relationships of New Zealand Thomisidae (Araneae) using a multi-locus approach

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A preliminary molecular analysis of phylogenetic and biogeographic relationships of New Zealand Thomisidae (Araneae) using a multi-locus approach