Even after decades of research on diversification in the Neotropics, our understanding of the evolutionary processes that shaped Neotropical clades is still incomplete. In the present study, we used different divergence times and likelihood-based methods to investigate the influence of biogeography and host plant associations on the diversification of the most species-rich psyllid genus Melanastera (Liviidae) from the Neotropics as a model group of herbivorous insects. We used molecular phylogenetic data from seven gene fragments (four mitochondrial and three nuclear). The putatively monophyletic group of Neotropical Melanastera species has an estimated crown node age of 20.2 Ma (ML, CI 20.2-30.6) or 23.2 Ma (BI, 95 % HPD 16.6-32.6), with diversification occurring mainly in the Upper Miocene, although some species groups diversified in the Pliocene or Pleistocene. Biogeographic analysis suggests that the Neotropical Melanastera originated from the Pacific region of South and Central America. We detected a shift in diversification rates that likely occurred either at the time of origin of Melanastera or during the main colonisation of the Atlantic and Amazon Forests, followed by a subsequent slowdown in speciation rates. State-dependent speciation and extinction models revealed a significant relationship between this diversification shift and the shift of Melanastera to the plant families Melastomataceae and Annonaceae, reflecting the impact of host switching on speciation rates in this group. This period also coincides with several independent dispersal events from the Atlantic and Amazon Forests to other parts of the Neotropics. Taken together, the results of the current study suggest that diversification of Melanastera was facilitated by shifts to new host families, which may have promoted the dispersal of Melanastera into new adaptive zones with subsequent processes of local speciation.

Department of Botany and Zoology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kotlářská 2 61137 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Botany and Zoology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kotlářská 2 61137 Brno Czech Republic; Center for Integrative Biodiversity Discovery Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science Museum für Naturkunde Invalidenstrasse 43 10115 Berlin Germany

Department of Botany Faculty of Science University of British Columbia V6T 1Z4 Vancouver Canada

Embrapa Florestas Estrada da Ribeira km 111 C postal 319 83411 000 Colombo PR Brazil

Faculty of Agricultural Environmental and Food Science Free University of Bozen Bolzano Piazza Università 1 39100 Bolzano Italy; Competence Centre for Plant Health Free University of Bozen Bolzano Piazza Università 1 39100 Bolzano Italy

Naturhistorisches Museum Augustinergasse 2 4001 Basel Switzerland

Universidade Federal do Paraná P O Box 19 020 81531 980 Curitiba PR Brazil

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