Zoogeography

Definition

The study of the geographic distribution of animals across Earth, including the historical, ecological, and evolutionary processes that shape these patterns. In entomology and arachnology, zoogeography examines how barriers such as oceans, mountain ranges, and climate zones limit or facilitate the dispersal of insects and arachnids, and how plate tectonics, glaciation, and human activity have altered their ranges over time.

Etymology

From Greek zōion 'animal' + geōgraphia 'description of Earth's surface'

Example

The zoogeography of New Zealand's insect fauna reveals high endemism due to 80 million years of isolation, with flightless wētā and many beetle lineages evolving in the absence of terrestrial mammals; conversely, the cosmopolitan distribution of the house spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum reflects human-mediated dispersal.

Synonyms

• animal biogeography
• faunal geography

Related Terms

• Biogeography
• phylogeography
• Endemism
• Dispersal
• vicariance
• range
• fauna
• Wallace's Line
• refugia

Usage Notes

Contrasts with phytogeography (plant distribution) and is distinguished from simple range mapping by its focus on causal mechanisms—historical (vicariance, dispersal), ecological (climate tolerance, habitat suitability), and evolutionary (speciation, extinction). Specialists often distinguish descriptive zoogeography (cataloging distributions) from analytical zoogeography (testing hypotheses about processes). The term is sometimes used interchangeably with 'animal biogeography,' though purists reserve zoogeography for descriptive work and biogeography for explanatory synthesis.