Interpreting colonization of the Calathus (Coleoptera : Carabidae) on the Canary Islands and Madeira through the application of the parametric bootstrap

The Canary Islands have proven to be an interesting archipelago for the phy logeographic study of colonization and diversification with a number of rec ent studies reporting evolutionary patterns and processes across a diversit y of floral and faunal groups. The Canary Islands differ from the Hawaiian and Galapagos Islands by their close proximity to a continental land mass, being 110 km from the northwestern coast of Africa. This close proximity to a continent obviously increases the potential for colonization, and it can be expected that at the level of the genus some groups will be the result of more than one colonization. In this study we investigate the phylogeogra phy of a group of carabid beetles from the genus Calathus on the Canary Isl ands and Madeira, located 450 km to the north of the Canaries and 650 km fr om the continent. The Calathus are well represented on these islands with a total of 29 species, and on the continent there are many more. Mitochondri al cytochrome oxidase I and II sequence data has been used to identify the phylogenetic relationships among the island species and a selection of cont inental species. Specific hypotheses of monophyly for the island fauna are tested with parametric bootstrap analysis. Data suggest that the Canary Isl ands have been colonized three times and Madeira twice. Four of these colon izations are of continental origin, but it is possible that one Madeiran cl ade may be monophyletic with a Canarian clads. The Calathus faunas of Tener ife and Madeira are recent in origin, similar to patterns previously report ed for La Gomera, El Hierro, and Gran Canaria.