"Parapurcellia" from eastern South Africa is sister to all other Pettalidae, while "Purcellia" from western South Africa is sister to the Chilean "Chileogovea". Western South Africa and southern South America were last connected during the Late Jurassic, about 150 mya. Likewise, the monotypic "Neopurcellia" from New Zealand appears as the sister group to all Pettalidae except for "Parapurcellia", instead of being monophyletic with the other two New Zealand genera, which themselves appear as sister groups in Bayesian analysis, but not in direct optimization parsimony analyses.