The endemic Hawaiian carabid beetle radiation represented by the 132 species of Blackburnia includes a diversity of early diverging taxa on Kauai, supporting an age of the radiation of at least 5.1 My. However, lineage disparity on Kauai suggests an older age of origin for this clade. This proposition was tested via cladistic analyis that included a variety of related taxa from throughout the southwest Pacific. Areas occupied by species in the analysis included Java, New Guinea, Australia, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti and New Zealand. The resultant taxon-area cladogram was converted to a chrono-area cladogram by incorporating ages of origin for all represented areas. These ages were optimized on the chrono-area cladogram to estimate the ages of hypothetical ancestors of the various island faunules. Evolution of carabid faunas on the various island groups is congruent with patterns observed in other insect groups. Based on its distinct evolutionary history, and parallel diversification of other radiations in New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji, and New Zealand, the age of origin of the Hawaiian Blackburnia is estimated to be at least Miocene in age, and perhaps as old as 30 Mya. Results for this radiation are compared and contrasted with findings from other insect and plant groups, allowing estimation of the biotic makeup of the earlier Hawaiian islands.