Effect of vagility potential on dispersal and speciation in rainforest insects

Explaining global patterns of species diversity is one of the most challenging objectives in biology. Most agree that complex interactions between historical and current processes are responsible for such patterns, although rigorous testing of possible mechanisms has proved difficult. Here we demonstrate that macropterous and flightless insects in the rainforests of north-eastern Australia have dispersed and speciated in similar manners. These results contradict the traditionally held assumption that differences in vagility potential would lead to significant differences in distributional patterns and speciation modes.