1 Preprint of a manuscript accepted for publication in Zoologica Scripta 2 3 Tectonic vicariance versus Messinian dispersal in western 4 Mediterranean ground beetles (Carabidae Trechini and 5 Pterostichini Molopina) 6 7 1,2 3 4 5 1 8 Arnaud Faille , Achille Casale , Carles Hernando , Salah Aït Mouloud and Ignacio Ribera 9 1 10 Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Maritim de la 11 Barceloneta 37, 08003 Barcelona, Spain 2 12 MECADEV - UMR 7179 MNHN/CNRS, Paris, France 3 13 C/o Università di Sassari, Dipartimento di Scienze della Natura e del Territorio (Zoologia). 14 Private: Corso Raffaello 12, 10126 Torino, Italy. e-mail:
[email protected] 4 15 P.O. box 118, 08911 Badalona, Catalonia, Spain 5 16 Université Mouloud-Mammeri, Tizi Ouzou, Algeria 17 18 19 Correspondence: A. Faille, Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), 20 Barcelona, Spain. E-mail:
[email protected] 21 1 22 ABSTRACT 23 24 The complex geological history of the western Mediterranean region complicates the 25 interpretation of the evolutionary history of its current fauna, as similar distribution patterns 26 may have very different temporal and geographical origins. Particularly intriguing are some 27 subterranean species in islands, which origin is usually difficult to interpret as their strongly 28 modified morphologies obscure their relationships. We studied subterranean taxa and their 29 likely relatives of two groups of ground beetles in the western Mediterranean: the Duvalius 30 lineage ("isotopic" Trechini) and Molopina (Pterostichini). We included specimens from the 31 islands of Mallorca, Sardinia and Sicily, plus mainland Europe and north Africa.