Jk. Liebherr, Blackburnia gastrellariformis sp n. (Coleoptera : Carabidae), from Molokai: successful prediction of a new taxon by reconciled tree analysis, IN SYST EVO, 32(2), 2001, pp. 133-141
Blackburnia gastrellariformis sp. n., is described from East Molokai, Hawai
i. Based on cladistic parsimony analysis of adult characters, the species i
s hypothesized to be most closely related to B. komohana Liebherr & Zimmerm
an of West Maui, with these two species comprising the adelphotaxon to the
East Maui species pair, B. haleakala Liebherr & Zimmerman + B. putealis (Bl
ackburn). Previous reconciled tree analysis for the Hawaiian Blackburnia ra
diation conducted before discovery of B. gastrellariformis found a general
pattern in which Molokai and West Maui were hypothesized as sister-areas to
the exclusion of the East Maui volcano, Haleakala, though the less common,
incongruent area relationship of (Molokai (West Maui + East Maui) was also
represented in the taxon-area cladogram. In the present reconciled tree an
alysis, the closest hypothesized relationship of B. gastrellariformis and a
West Maui species corroborates the more common pattern by replacing items
of error in the previous analysis with the newly discovered species. Elevat
ional habitat shifts are invoked to explain the occurrence of numerous sist
er-species pairs in Molokai arid West Maui, currently separated by the Pail
olo Channel, relative to species occupying Haleakala.