Dispersal from Africa to the Neotropics was followed by multiple transitions across Neotropical biomes facilitated by frugivores.

In Bocageeae mammals may have been responsible for long-distance dispersal through the Boreotropics. In the Neotropics, proto-Amazonia is proposed to be the source for dispersal to other tropical American biomes. Long-distance dispersal may have happened via a wide range of dispersal guilds, depending on frugivore radiations, diversity, and abundance at particular time periods and places. Hence, inter- and intracontinental dispersal may not rely on a single dispersal syndrome or guild, but more on the availability of frugivorous lineages for seed dispersal.