The distribution of some insects of the Solomon Islands

Abstract

Among the Solomon Islands' insects two distribution patterns are important, a distinctive fauna on S. Cristoval, and a similarity between the islsnds of Bougainville, Choiseul and S. Ysabel. These result from the island area‐fauna size relation, and the expansion of immigrants or island endemics which takes place most easily across the narrower water gaps, although different insects vary in their ability to cross them. The distributions of species in three heteropteran genera are interpreted as stages in a process of expansion, differentiation and replacement. Peculiarities of the S. Cristoval fauna are related to the island's isolation in terms of distance from major sources, rather than any conjectural geological history. However the Bougainville‐S. Ysabel affinity coincides with a possible late Pleistocene land connexion. Copyright © 1968, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved