DOI: 10.5061/dryad.6qp7p13
title: Data from: Out of the Orient: Post-Tethyan transoceanic and trans-Arabian routes fostered the spread of Baorini skippers in the Afrotropics

description: The origin of taxa presenting a disjunct distribution between Africa and
 Asia has puzzled biogeographers for more than a century. This
 biogeographic pattern has been hypothesized to be the result of
 transoceanic long‐distance dispersal, Oligocene dispersal through forested
 corridors, Miocene dispersal through the Arabian Peninsula or passive
 dispersal on the rifting Indian plate. However, it has often been
 difficult to pinpoint the mechanisms at play. We investigate biotic
 exchange between the Afrotropics and the Oriental region during the
 Cenozoic, a period in which geological changes altered landmass
 connectivity. We use Baorini skippers (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae) as a
 model, a widespread clade of butterflies in the Old World tropics with a
 disjunct distribution between the Afrotropics and the Oriental region. We
 use anchored phylogenomics to infer a robust evolutionary tree for Baorini
 skippers and estimate divergence times and ancestral ranges to test
 biogeographic hypotheses. Our phylogenomic tree recovers strongly
 supported relationships for Baorini skippers and clarifies the systematics
 of the tribe. Dating analyses suggest that these butterflies originated in
 the Oriental region, Greater Sunda Islands, and the Philippines in the
 early Miocene c. 23 Ma. Baorini skippers dispersed from the Oriental
 region towards Africa at least five times in the past 20 Ma. These
 butterflies colonized the Afrotropics primarily through trans‐Arabian
 geodispersal after the closure of the Tethyan seaway in the mid‐Miocene.
 Range expansion from the Oriental region towards the African continent
 probably occurred via the Gomphotherium land bridge through the Arabian
 Peninsula. Alternative scenarios invoking long‐distance dispersal and
 vicariance are not supported. The Miocene climate change and biome shift
 from forested areas to grasslands possibly facilitated geodispersal in
 this clade of butterflies.
description: Full molecular
 matrixMolecular matrix used
 for phylogenetic and dating inferences with partitioning and model
 selection for the BEAST analyses based on PartitionFinder
 resultsBAORINI.nexChronogram used for biogeographic analysesChrono.treBEAST MCC chronogramBEAST MCC chronogram of the best analysis based on MLE comparison among all BEAST analyses (2 clocks and Yule Tree model)BAORINI_Yule_2C.treBest IQ-TREE ML tree based on the full datasetBest ML tree based on likelihood comparison of 100 tree searches in IQ-TREE using the full dataset (AHE and available sequence data)BAO_72.treefile.trePartitioning file for IQ-TREE analyses based on the full datasetFile comprising the best partitioning scheme and models of nucleotide substitution estimated in IQ-TREE using ModelFinder across all available models for the full dataset (AHE and available sequence data)Partitions.txt.best_scheme.nexPartitioning file for IQ-TREE analyses based on the AHE datasetFile comprising the best partitioning scheme and models of nucleotide substitution estimated in IQ-TREE using ModelFinder across all available models for the AHE dataset (no available sequence data)Partitions.txt.best_scheme.nexBest IQ-TREE ML tree based on the AHE datasetBest ML tree based on likelihood comparison of 100 tree searches in IQ-TREE using the full dataset (AHE and available sequence data)BAO_93.treefile.treAHE molecular datasetMolecular matrix used for phylogenetic and dating inferences with partitioning and model selection for the BEAST analyses based on PartitionFinder resultsBAO2019.phy