Cichlid biogeography: comment and review

Phylogenetic analyses dealing with disjunct distributions (distributions that require marine dispersal or vicariant events) are reviewed for the Cichlidae. The most corroborated relationship between clades across a Gondwanan disjunction is the sister relationship between Indian and Malagasy cichlids. The minimum age of the Cichlidae as implied by the fossil record is at odds with the timing of the Cretaceous break of the Indian–Madagascar landmass. All well sampled phylogenies for this group fit a pattern reflecting Gondwanan break‐up. Grounds for strictly dispersalist hypotheses are not well founded for any cichlid disjunct distribution, leaving vicariance alternatives as the only explanation.