HISTORICAL BIOGEOGRAPHY IN THE INDO-PACIFIC: A CLADISTIC APPROACH

Abstract- The history of biogeographic theories about the Indo-Pacific is reviewed. The methods of cladistic biogeography are introduced and 10 monophyletic groups of Miridae (Insecta: Heteroptera) are used to apply these methods in the Indo-Pacific. The results are summarized and then combined with those of Duffels on cicadas. The results of most previous schemes are rejected on the basis of new results because the prior studies applied methods which failed to correctly interrelate areas of endemism within the Indo-Pacific and between this and other regions. The composite biotic nature of New Guinea is stressed. "it is the presence in and not the absence from land areas of organisms that calls for reasoned explanations" (Evans, 1959).