No visit to Barcelona is complete without dinner at Rasoterra

My receding hairline and I yapping about the genetic consequences of wing length plasticity at #ESEB2025

6/6) Our study shows how long-distance dispersal and species interactions can shape diversification and biogeographic patterns over evolutionary time — driving disjunctions at both population and species levels.

5/6) Ecological niche modeling further supports a scenario where the establishment of V. atalanta in Europe displaced V. indica to Asia. This, in turn, caused the current disjunction between V. indica and its sister species V. vulcania, which is endemic to the Macaronesia.

4/6) Genomic analyses reveal introgression between European V. atalanta and V. indica, a species now found only in Asia. This suggests they once coexisted in Europe – a case of ancient sympatry.

3/6) We found that American and European Vanessa atalanta populations are genetically distinct. The species originated in North America and crossed the Atlantic during the Last Glacial Maximum – a rare case of natural trans-Atlantic dispersal.

2/6) Vanessa butterflies show a remarkable variation in migratory behaviour – from local endemics to obligate long-distance migrants. Some species display striking disjunct distributions across continents, either within species or between sister species.

1/6) New paper out in Molecular Ecology! We uncover the intriguing biogeographic history behind the Holarctic disjunct distributions in Vanessa butterflies. @phylomigrationlab.bsky.social
#biogeography #insectmigration #butterflymigration #butterflies #evolution
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