The current knowledge of the fossil record suggests that the locations of peak diversity (that is, biodiversity hotspots) shifted throughout the Cenozoic from the western Tethys during the Eocene to the Arabian Peninsula during the late Eocene-Oligocene, before being established at the current location of the IAA in Southeast Asia in the early Miocene: the process known as the hopping hotspots model.
Each hop of the biodiversity hotspots from the ancient location to the new one was probably underpinned by considerable speciation and extinction events, but also could be associated with the palaeobiogeographic shifts of some component taxa tracking suitable habitats.
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