Biogeographic patterns in the Southern Hemisphere have largely been attributed to vicariant processes, but recent studies have challenged some of the classic examples of this paradigm. The parasitoid wasp subfamily Labeninae has been hypothesized to have a Gondwanan origin, but the lack of divergence dating analysis and the discovery of a putative labenine fossil in Europe pose a challenge to that idea. Here we used a combination of phylogenomics, divergence dating and event-based biogeographical inference to test whether Gondwanan vicariance may explain the distribution patterns of Labeninae. Data from genomic ultraconserved elements were used to infer the phylogeny of Labeninae with 54 species from 9 genera and a broad selection of 99 outgroup taxa. Total-evidence divergence dating places the origin of Labeninae at around 146 mya, which is consistent with a Gondwanan origin but predates the full separation of Africa and South America. The results suggest a path for biotic exchange between South America and Australia potentially through Antarctica, until at least 49 million years ago. Total-evidence analysis places the fossil Trigonator macrocheirus Spasojevic et al. firmly inside crown-group Labeninae, suggesting that labenine distribution range at some point during the Eocene surpassed the boundaries of Gondwanaland. Biogeographic inference also indicates that North American groups represent more recent range expansions that nonetheless occurred before the formation of the Isthmus of Panama land bridge. These conclusions point to a more complex scenario than previously expected for Labeninae biogeography.

Variation in breeding systems between species of the same taxonomic group complicates the consistent application of species concepts, and perhaps even the logically consistent circumscription of species. Several genera of arid-zone ephemerals in the Angianthus clade (Asteraceae: Gnaphalieae: Gnaphaliinae) contain both outcrossing and non-outcrossing species. The latter are recognised by producing an order of magnitude fewer pollen grains per anther and an often reduced number of corolla lobes, and they are frequently more widespread than are the former. In its current taxonomy, the genus Pogonolepis comprises an otherwise morphologically indistinguishable pair of one outcrossing and one non-outcrossing species. I generated sequence capture data to test the genetic segregation of P. stricta and P. muelleriana and the utility of sequence capture data for species circumscription and diagnostics. Phylogenetic analysis showed the two species to form two specimen clades, supporting the current taxonomy. Contrary to expectations, non-outcrossing P. muelleriana exhibited lower gene concordance, in line with values expected from recombination, as well as higher heterozygosity than its outcrossing sister species. More research on the breeding system and population structure of the two species may be required to explain these results.

The Oxus Civilisation (or Bactrio-Margian Archaeological Complex, BMAC) was the main archaeological culture of the Bronze Age in southern Central Asia. Paleogenetic analyses were previously conducted mainly on samples from the eastern part of BMAC. The population associated with BMAC descends from local Chalcolithic populations, with some outliers of steppe or South-Asian descent. Here, we present new genome-wide data for one individual from Ulug-depe (Turkmenistan), one of the main BMAC sites, located at the southwestern edge of the BMAC. We demonstrate that this individual genetically belongs to the BMAC cluster. Using this genome, we confirm that modern Indo-Iranian–speaking populations from Central Asia derive their ancestry from BMAC populations, with additional gene flow from the western and the Altai steppes in higher proportions among the Tajiks than the Yagnobi ethnic group.