Resumen:
Oceanic islands lacking connections to other land are extremely isolated from sources of
potential colonists and have acquired their biota mainly through dispersal from geographically
distant areas. Hence, isolated island biota constitutes interesting models to infer biogeographical
mechanisms of dispersal, colonization, differentiation, and speciation. Limpets
of the genus Cellana (Nacellidae: Patellogastropoda) show limited dispersal capacity but
are broadly distributed across the Indo-Pacific including many endemic species in isolated
oceanic islands. Here, we examined main distributional patterns and geographic boundaries
among Cellana lineages with special emphasis in the relationships of Southern Hemisphere
oceanic islands species. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on mtDNA (COI) recognized
three main clades in Cellana including taxa from different provinces of the Indo-Pacific.
Clear genetic discontinuities characterize the biogeography of Cellana and several lineages
are associated to particular areas of the Indo-Pacific supporting the low dispersal capacity
of the genus across recognized biogeographical barriers in the region. However, evolutionary
relationships within Cellana suggest that long-distance dispersal processes have been
common in the history of the genus and probably associated to the origin of the species in
Hawaii and Juan FernaÂndez Archipelago. Therefore, the presence of Cellana species in
geographically distant Southern Hemisphere oceanic islands, such as the Juan FernaÂndez
Archipelago, suggests that long-distance dispersal mediated by rafting may have played an
important role in the biogeography of the genus.