Pygopodidae species distributionA zip file containing the vetted species distributions in ASCII format for all Pygopodidae species used in this study.Pygopodidae.zipLerista species distributionsA zip file containing the vetted species distributions in ASCII format for all Lerista species used in this study.Lerista.zipDiplodactylinae species distributionsA zip file containing the vetted species distributions in ASCII format for all diplodactyline gecko species used in this study.Diplodactylinae.zipSminthopsine species distributionsA zip file containing the vetted species distributions in ASCII format for all Sminthopsinae and species used in this study, as well as maps for dasyurid outgroups (not included in analyses).Dasyurids.zipCtenotus species distributionsA zip file containing the vetted species distributions in ASCII format for all Ctenotus species used in this study.Ctenotus.zipCtenophorus species distributionsA zip file containing the vetted species distributions in ASCII format for all Ctenophorus species used in this study.Ctenophorus.zipSliding window gridsContains grid files used to sample species distributions in the sliding window analysis.GridASCIIs.zipCtenophorus nexus fileNexus matrix of ND1 and ND2 from Ctenophorus species and outgroups.Ctenophorus.nexCtenotus nexus fileNexus matrix of ATPsB, cytb, GAPDH, and ND4 from Ctenotus species and outgroups.Ctenotus.nexDiplodactylinae nexus fileNexus matrix of ND2 from Diplodactyline species and outgroups.Diplodactylinae.nexLerista nexus fileNexus matrix of 12S, 16S, ATPsB, and ND$ from Lerista species and outgroups.Lerista.nexPygopodidae nexus fileNexus matrix of 16S, c-mos, and ND2 from Pygopodidae species and outgroups.Pygopodidae.nexSminthopsinae nexus fileNexus matrix of 12S, 16S, B-fib, cyt b, IRBP, and P1 from Sminthopsinae marsupial species and dasyurid outgroups.Sminthopsinae.nexCtenophorus phylogenetic treeCtenophorus phylogenetic tree used in community phylogenetic analysesCtenophorus.newickCtenotus phylogenetic treeCtenotus phylogenetic tree used in community phylogenetic analysesCtenotus.newickDiplodactylinae phylogenetic treeDiplodactylinae phylogenetic tree used in community phylogenetic analysesDiplodactylinae.newickLerista phylogenetic treeLerista phylogenetic tree used in community phylogenetic analysesLerista.newickPygopodidae phylogenetic treePygopodidae phylogenetic tree used in community phylogenetic analysesPygopodidae.newickSminthopsinae phylogenetic treeSminthopsinae phylogenetic tree used in community phylogenetic analysesSminthopsinae.newick

AIM: To understand the relative importance of ecological and historical factors in structuring terrestrial vertebrate assemblages across the Australian arid zone, and to contrast patterns of community phylogenetic structure at a continental scale. LOCATION: Australia. METHODS: We present evidence from six lineages of terrestrial vertebrates (five lizard clades and one clade of marsupial mice) that have diversified in arid and semi-arid Australia across 37 biogeographical regions. Measures of within-lineage community phylogenetic structure and species turnover were computed to examine how patterns differ across the continent and between taxonomic groups. These results were examined in relation to climatic and historical factors, which are thought to play a role in community phylogenetic structure. Analyses using a novel sliding-window approach confirm the generality of processes structuring the assemblages of the Australian arid zone at different spatial scales. RESULTS: Phylogenetic structure differed greatly across taxonomic groups. Although these lineages have radiated within the same biome – the Australian arid zone – they exhibit markedly different community structure at the regional and local levels. Neither current climatic factors nor historical habitat stability resulted in a uniform response across communities. Rather, historical and biogeographical aspects of community composition (i.e. local lineage persistence and diversification histories) appeared to be more important in explaining the variation in phylogenetic structure. While arid-zone assemblages show an overall tendency towards phylogenetic clustering, this pattern was less pronounced at finer spatial scales. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: By focusing within different taxonomic groups and between those groups within regions, we show that although the vertebrate lineages we examined exhibited high diversity and low turnover across the arid zone, the underlying phylogenetic structure differs between regions and taxonomic groups, suggesting that taxon-specific histories are more important than habitat stability in determining patterns of phylogenetic community relatedness.