Fig. 8

A schematic representation of the evolutionary history of the Azores as inferred from the studied arthropod species. For reasons of simplicity only two islands are represented. However, the model can be expanded to include all the islands of the group. The model proposes that following extinction due to catastrophic events, back-colonization processes occur and that together these perhaps reiterative processes shape the distribution of genetic diversity in the Azores and shorten the time-estimates inferred for the differentiation of the species within the archipelago