Abstract: Meiogyne is a genus of trees and treelets occurring in India, tropical Southeast Asia and Australasia-Pacific, an unusually wide distribution across Australasia and the Western Pacific compared to other genera of Annonaceae. Previous chloroplast phylogenies of the genus offered poor resolution and support. Here, a molecular phylogeny was reconstructed based on 27 described Meiogyne species (ca. 70% sampling) using seven chloroplast and 11 nuclear markers. The combined dataset generated a well-resolved and well-supported phylogeny. Estimation of divergence time utilised two fossil calibrations and an uncorrelated lognormal relaxed clock model. Trait-dependent and trait-independent biogeographical models in BioGeoBEARS were compared using AICc weight and likelihood ratio test. The results suggest that narrow monocarp width is correlated with increased macroevolutionary dispersal. Under the best-fitting trait-dependent DEC+j+t₁₂+t₂₁+m₂ model, a single colonisation event from Sunda to Sahul during the middle Miocene and two dispersal events from New Guinea and Australia into the Pacific during the late Miocene to early Pliocene were detected. BayesTraits analysis strongly supports a correlation between narrow monocarp width and bright fruit colours. Bird dispersal and the associated traits (narrow monocarp width) may have driven macroevolutionary dispersal for Meiogyne with fleshy fruits in Australasia-Pacific.

Key words: Annonaceae, Australasia, Biogeography, bird, endozoochory, fruit colour, fruit morphology, Meiogyne, Pacific, seed dispersal