We incorporated new data to re-evaluate the biogeographical patterns in the Mexican Transition Zone (MTZ) through the recognition of congruence in the geographic distributions of Mexican passalids (Coleoptera : Passalidae). We used three different approaches to parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE): (1) the use of specific distribution data; (2) the application of a null model of significant co-occurrence to the specific distribution data; and (3) the use of predicted potential distributions through ecological niche modelling. Overall, these approaches sharpened the delimitation of distributions in three general zones. General zone (GZone) 1 includes species of restricted distribution in the state of Chiapas; the grid cells that make up this zone lie mainly in the Chiapas biogeographical province. GZone 2 includes species of restricted distribution located mainly in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, Hidalgo and Queretaro; the grid cells of this zone lie mainly in the Sierra Madre Oriental province. GZone 3 includes species with restricted distribution occurring mainly in the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca; the grid cells of this zone lie mainly in the Sierra Madre del Sur biogeographical province. The patterns of distributional congruence found in this study revealed three important distributional zones for the passalid species within the MTZ highly coincident with patterns proposed by Halffter.
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25 June 2013
The classic theory of Mexican Transition Zone revisited: the distributional congruence patterns of Passalidae (Coleoptera)
Ana Gutiérrez-Velázquez,
Octavio Rojas-Soto,
Pedro Reyes-Castillo,
Gonzalo Halffter
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Invertebrate Systematics
Vol. 27 • No. 3
June 2013
Vol. 27 • No. 3
June 2013