The species of Strengerianini are restricted to altitudinal levels between 900 and 3,000 m in the Eastern, Western, and Central Cordilleras, and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia, and the Sierra de Perija in Venezuela. A cladistic analysis of the genera Chaceus and Strengeriana, including the new species Strengeriana risaraldensis, Strengeriana bolivarensis, Strengeriana huilensis, and Strengeriana taironae, using somatic and gonopodal characters, confirms the separation of both genera and suggests the geographic disjunction of 3 sister groups. Bridging of these disjunctions requires, within a dispersalist hypothesis, the establishment of migratory paths either across extensive areas of lowlands or through a very long stretch of continuous highlands, if the present geography is assumed. It is suggested that the group was widespread in the area by Miocene times. Later the uplifting and displacement of the Santa Marta Massif led to disruption of the ancestral Strengerianini stock to form the actual pattern of distribution and diversification. This model requires dating the first radiation of the Strengerianini before the end of the Miocene, after a previous splitting of the family into sister groups, in the Antilles and in the northern Andes, in Eocene times.