Biogeography
Guides
Aemodogryllinae
camel crickets
Aemodogryllinae is a subfamily of Rhaphidophoridae (cave crickets or camel crickets) containing approximately sixteen genera. Members are apterous (wingless) and predominantly inhabit dark, humid microhabitats including caves, stone crevices, and karst formations. The subfamily exhibits a disjunct distribution: tribe Aemodogryllini occurs in Europe and Asia (Korea, Russia, China, Indochina), while tribe Diestramimini is restricted to India, southern China, and Indochina. The greenhouse camel cricket (Diestrammena asynamora) is cosmopolitan and invasive.
Aliatypus
Aliatypus is a genus of North American folding trapdoor spiders in the family Antrodiaetidae. First described by C.P. Smith in 1908, these spiders are most closely related to Antrodiaetus, though they have convergently evolved trapdoor-building behavior similar to Ctenizidae. They are notable for building wafer-like trapdoor burrows in hot, dry habitats where their collar-door relatives cannot survive. The genus contains fourteen species as of 2026, with distributions concentrated in the western United States, particularly California. Their sedentary lifestyle and limited dispersal make them valuable subjects for biogeographic studies.
Ameronothroidea
Ameronothroidea is a paraphyletic assemblage of oribatid mites comprising approximately 130 species across five families. Contrary to previous classifications as a monophyletic superfamily, molecular evidence demonstrates that the marine-associated lifestyle evolved independently three times: Fortuyniidae and Selenoribatidae in tropical and subtropical intertidal zones (Triassic-Jurassic, ~225–146 mya), Ameronothridae in northern cold-temperate and polar coasts (late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous), and Podacaridae in southern cold-temperate and polar coasts (Early Cretaceous, ~30 my later). Tegeocranellidae represents a limnic (freshwater) lineage without marine association. These mites are strictly intertidal, exhibiting low dispersal potential and strong biogeographic structure correlated with ocean currents and continental history.
Arenivaga floridensis
Florida Sand Cockroach
Arenivaga floridensis is a sexually dimorphic, fossorial sand cockroach endemic to Florida scrub ecosystems. It is the most geographically widespread faunal endemic of Florida scrub, documented from 11 peninsular sand ridges. Genetic analysis reveals three major mitochondrial lineages whose divergence corresponds with late Pliocene peninsula insularization, supporting a western origin hypothesis with colonization during the Pliocene or earlier. The species exhibits extreme sexual dimorphism: males possess fully developed wings and engage in low, erratic flight at dusk, while females are completely wingless and remain entirely fossorial throughout life. Its distribution is restricted to friable, sandy soils beneath light leaf litter of sand live oaks (Quercus geminata).
Biantidae
biantid harvestmen
Biantidae is a family of small harvestmen, or Opiliones, within the laniatorean branch of the order. The family is most diverse in tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World, especially Africa, Madagascar, and the Indian subcontinent, while a separate lineage occurs in the Caribbean and northern South America. Biantid harvestmen are notable for their enlarged, armed pedipalps and for the variety of compact body forms found in leaf litter and other sheltered habitats.
Candalidini
Candalidini is a tribe of gossamer-winged butterflies in the lycaenid subfamily Polyommatinae. Its native range is confined to Australia, mainland New Guinea, and nearby islands. A molecular and morphological study recognized four genera containing 37 species and 23 subspecies, while also revising older genus names. The tribe combines a geographically restricted radiation with a complex history of taxonomic revision.
Ceromidae
Ceromidae is a family of solifuges, the arachnids often called camel spiders or sun spiders. The family is represented in the modern fauna of southern Africa, and its recorded genus Ceroma occurs across several African countries. Ceromidae is notable in historical biogeography because a Cretaceous fossil from Brazil, Cratosolpuga wunderlichi, has been assigned to the family, while living ceromids are restricted to southern Africa. Family-level information remains limited, so broad solifuge traits should not be treated as a diagnosis for every ceromid.
Coleorrhyncha
moss bugs
Coleorrhyncha is a relict suborder of true bugs whose living members are called moss bugs. The only living family is Peloridiidae. Modern peloridiids are a small, cryptic lineage; the current fauna comprises 37 described species in 17 genera, while the broader history of the group also includes fossil coleorrhynchans.
Cymbiodyta
Cymbiodyta is a genus of water scavenger beetles (Hydrophilidae: Enochrinae) comprising 31 described species. The genus exhibits a strikingly disjunct distribution: 28 species occur in the Americas, while only three species inhabit the Palearctic region. A fossil species from Eocene Baltic amber (C. samueli) confirms the genus has persisted in Europe since at least the Eocene, supporting biogeographic reconstructions indicating an ancient Euro-American distribution dating to the Late Cretaceous when land connections existed between North America and Europe.
Diaulota
Diaulota is a genus of flightless intertidal rove beetles in the family Staphylinidae, subfamily Aleocharinae. The genus comprises approximately eight described species distributed across Pacific coasts of the Northern Hemisphere. Despite being flightless, Diaulota species have achieved a trans-Pacific distribution through coastal dispersal, with some lineages crossing the Pacific Ocean directly via sea surface currents. The genus is notable for its remarkable biogeographic history and specialized intertidal habitat.
Diaulota fulviventris
Diaulota fulviventris is a flightless intertidal rove beetle in the family Staphylinidae. It is one of two species in a lineage that crossed the Pacific Ocean directly from the northwestern Pacific to the northeastern Pacific, likely via sea surface currents, rather than following the coastal route taken by most congeners. The species occurs in western North America and Mexico.
Dryotribus mimeticus
A weevil species first described by Horn in 1873, with a complex biogeographic history involving native North American populations and apparent human-mediated dispersal to Pacific islands. The species was considered extinct from 1986 until rediscovered in the Dominican Republic in 1997, with additional records from Montserrat in 2002. Its association with drift logs suggests a capacity for oceanic dispersal.
Ectobius
Ectobius is an accepted cockroach genus in the family Ectobiidae, with dozens of descendants in the GBIF backbone. Its living representatives are described from north-temperate and African ecosystems, while fossils show that the genus also occurred in North America during the Eocene. A Colorado fossil assemblage records Ectobius about 49 million years ago, long before the genus returned to the continent in modern times.
Ectobius
wood cockroaches, field cockroaches
Ectobius is a genus of small, cool-adapted cockroaches in the family Ectobiidae. Adults measure 6–12 mm in length with brown to yellowish coloration and pale margins. The genus has a complex biogeographic history: fossil evidence from the 49-million-year-old Green River Formation in Colorado indicates Ectobius originated in North America, despite its long absence from the continent until recent reintroductions. Species are primarily distributed across Europe, Africa, the eastern Palearctic, and the Near East. Several species have been introduced to northeastern North America within the last 65 years, where Ectobius lapponicus has become synanthropic.
Ectobius pallidus
Tawny Cockroach
Ectobius pallidus, commonly known as the tawny cockroach, is a non-cosmopolitan species in the family Ectobiidae. Unlike many cockroach species associated with human dwellings, this species is native to western Europe and North Africa. It has been introduced to North America, representing a reintroduction after a 49-million-year absence of the genus from the continent. The species is not considered a significant household pest.
Epactoidini
Epactoidini is a tribe of scarab beetles in the subfamily Scarabaeinae. A 2022 study established the tribe from a group of paleotropical dung beetle genera and supported its unity with both morphological and molecular evidence. The study treated Grebennikovius, Epactoides, and Ochicanthon as the principal genera in the group. Its members are notable in the literature for a strongly disjunct distribution across parts of Africa, Madagascar, Réunion, and the Oriental region, together with a long history inferred from phylogenetic analyses.
Eusphyrus
fungus weevil
Eusphyrus is a genus of fungus weevils in the family Anthribidae, established by LeConte in 1876. The genus contains at least 30 described species, with most species distributed in the Americas. Eusphyrus vasconicus represents a notable exception, occurring in Italy and representing the only known European species in a predominantly New World genus. Members of this genus are characterized by their association with fungi, typical of anthribid weevils.
Formiciinae
Formiciinae is an extinct subfamily of ants known from Eocene fossils. Its record includes Europe and North America, with material assigned to the genera Formicium and Titanomyrma. The subfamily is notable for unusually large fossil ants, including Titanomyrma specimens exceeding five centimetres in length. Known fossils occur in warm Eocene settings and help reconstruct ancient movement between the two continents.
Gallieniellidae
Gallieniellidae is a family of araneomorph spiders described by J. Millot in 1947. The family has a disjunct distribution including Madagascar and the Comoros, southern and eastern Africa, South America and Australia. Members are commonly treated as ground spiders and are suspected to include specialists in hunting ants.
Huttonia
Huttonia is a small spider genus in Huttoniidae. One described species, Huttonia palpimanoides, is associated with New Zealand. The genus combines a restricted living distribution with a fossil family record reaching back to Cretaceous amber in Canada. It is treated as an araneomorph spider in the palpimanoid lineage.
Hypoborini
Hypoborini is a tribe of small bark beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) established by Nüsslin in 1912. Recent molecular and morphological revision of the Afrotropical fauna revealed substantial undescribed diversity, including three new genera and seven new species. The tribe comprises two subtribes in the Afrotropical region: Xerasiborina (Xerasiborus, Nisiborus, tentatively Glochiphorus) and Hypoborina (Dacryostactus, Styracoptinus, Afrotrypetus, Corditarsus). Related Palearctic genera Hypoborus and Liparthrum occur in Mediterranean and Macaronesian regions. Phylogenetic analyses indicate an early Palaeocene origin with ancestral area split between Asia/Africa and Madagascar, followed by single colonization of Madagascar and subsequent recolonization of the African mainland.
Hypochilidae
Lampshade Spiders
Hypochilidae is an ancient and relict family of true spiders (Araneae) containing two genera: Hypochilus (11 species, North America) and Ectatosticta (22 species, Asia). The family originated in the Late Jurassic and exhibits a classic inter-continental disjunct distribution. These spiders are considered among the most primitive of araneomorphs, retaining plesiomorphic traits including two pairs of book lungs in most species. They are microhabitat specialists with naturally small geographic distributions and low vagility, making them important subjects for conservation and biogeographic research.
Kimulidae
Kimulidae is a small Neotropical family of harvestmen in the order Opiliones. Published accounts describe members as brown animals associated with soil, leaf litter, humid forests, and, in some species, caves. The family has a notably discontinuous known range, with records in northern South America and the West Indies and additional Brazilian lineages. A cave study used morphology and molecular data to examine the family’s relationships and biogeographic history.
Lebinthini
Lebinthini is a tribe of crickets in the family Gryllidae and subfamily Eneopterinae. It belongs to Orthoptera and is recorded as terrestrial. The group includes genera such as Cardiodactylus, Lebinthus, and Agnotecous, whose members differ in appearance, range, and behavior. Classification, geographic diversification, and acoustic or vibrational communication are important features of the groups history.
Leptotes
Zebra Blues
Leptotes is a genus of small butterflies in the family Lycaenidae, commonly known as zebra blues due to their distinctive zebra-striped undersides. The genus contains multiple species distributed across tropical and subtropical regions including the Americas, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, southern and eastern Asia, and eastern Australia. Several endemic species occur on oceanic islands including the Galapagos, Canary Islands, Mauritius, Príncipe, and São Tomé. Leptotes species are myrmecophilous, meaning they have associations with ants, though research suggests ant partners play a minor role in their occurrence on host plants.
Lessertia
Lessertia is a genus of very small spiders in the family Linyphiidae, the group commonly known as sheet weavers or money spiders. The genus was described in 1908 and the cited account recognizes two species: Lessertia barbara and Lessertia dentichelis. Records summarized for the genus span parts of Europe, North Africa, Atlantic islands, Canada, and New Zealand, although the two species do not share exactly the same range.
Liparocephalini
Liparocephalini is a tribe of rove beetles (Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae) comprising approximately 5 genera and more than 20 described species. The tribe is notable for its specialized colonization of intertidal marine habitats, representing a rare ecological transition among beetles. Phylogenetic studies indicate that ancestors of Liparocephalini originated in beach littoral zones and subsequently colonized rocky reef areas in the low tidal zone through intermediate tidal zones.
Listroderes
vegetable weevils
Listroderes is a genus of weevils in the family Curculionidae, subfamily Cyclominae. The genus includes at least 170 described species, though some sources suggest a smaller core group. Several species, particularly Listroderes costirostris (vegetable weevil), are significant agricultural pests with broad host ranges. The genus is characterized by distinctive body vestiture of subcircular to suboval scales. Species are native to southern South America, with some introduced widely through human activity.
Maechidiini
Maechidiini is a tribe of scarab beetles in the family Scarabaeidae. A 2020 revision treated the tribe in the Indo-Australian transition zone, including Papuan and Wallacean material, and documented records from Bali, the Sangihe Islands, and the Tanimbar Islands. The revision recognized 78 species in that region and reassessed the genera Maechidius, Epholcis, and Paramaechidius. Evidence for ecology is uneven: the study reports ecological data for selected species rather than a single profile for the whole tribe.
Mecysmaucheniidae
Mecysmaucheniidae is a family of small araneomorph spiders in the superfamily Palpimanoidea. Eugène Simon described the family in 1895. Its modern range is centered in temperate habitats of southern South America and New Zealand, giving the family a distinctive, disjunct Southern Hemisphere distribution.
Megalyridae
Megalyridae is a small family of parasitic wasps in the hymenopteran superfamily Megalyroidea. The living fauna is concentrated mainly in the Southern Hemisphere, with notable diversity in Australia and Madagascar. Fossils show that the family was more widespread during the Mesozoic than it is today. Family-level biology is incompletely known, but megalyrids are regarded as parasitoids of insect larvae concealed in substrates.
Meinertellidae
Meinertellidae is a family of jumping bristletails commonly called rock bristletails. It belongs to Archaeognatha, an early-diverging insect lineage, and includes living and fossil representatives. The family is chiefly associated with the Southern Hemisphere, although a species described from Tibet established a northern record for the genus Machilontus and the first reported family record in China. Members occupy several terrestrial settings, including forest litter, tree trunks, forest canopy, and coastal rock surfaces.
Mesostoinae
Mesostoinae is a subfamily of braconid wasps whose classification and limits have changed as morphological and molecular evidence has accumulated. The group is described in the literature as poorly understood and as having a classic Gondwanan distribution. Its members are small wasps, but the subfamily includes several distinct lineages with different ecological associations. Published accounts document genera associated with plant galls, gall midges, and concealed caterpillar habitats, while the broader family is known for parasitoid biology.
Metriorrhynchina
Metriorrhynchina is a subtribe of net-winged beetles in the family Lycidae. The group is concentrated in the Australian region, with especially high documented diversity in New Guinea, the Moluccas, and Sulawesi. The 2020 inventory listed 876 valid species assigned to the subtribe and emphasized that its classification has been revised as molecular and morphological evidence improve. The group includes brightly colored beetles as well as less conspicuous forms, and unrelated species can resemble one another through mimicry.
Microstigmatidae
Microstigmatidae is a small family of mygalomorph spiders. Its members are generally small, ground-associated, free-living spiders, often encountered in leaf litter or close to the soil surface. Unlike many familiar mygalomorphs, microstigmatids are noted for making relatively little use of silk. The family has a scattered distribution that includes parts of the Americas, southern Africa, and Australasia.
Nemastomatinae
Nemastomatinae is a subfamily of harvestmen in the family Nemastomatidae. Harvestmen are arachnids in the order Opiliones, so this group is not a family of insects or spiders. Published summaries place Nemastomatinae mainly across Europe and adjacent regions, with additional records in parts of Central and East Asia. A 2018 taxonomic paper documented a member of the subfamily in Yunnan, China, showing that its range extends farther east than the best-known European and western Asian records.
Nemeobiinae
Nemeobiinae is a subfamily of metalmark butterflies in the family Riodinidae. It has a predominantly Old World history, but recent classifications have also discussed New World lineages within the group. The subfamily is notable for a distinctive documented feeding association: its members are described as feeding on plants in Primulaceae, with one stated exception in the genus Emesis. Nemeobiinae is a taxonomic group containing many genera, not one species with a single appearance or range.
Neoephemeridae
large squaregill mayflies
Neoephemeridae is a small family of mayflies in the suborder Furcatergalia, containing approximately 13-17 described species across four genera: Neoephemera (Nearctic), Ochernova (Central Asia), Leucorhoenanthus (West Palearctic), and Potamanthellus (East Palearctic and Oriental). Nymphs are characterized by distinctive fimbriate (fringed) dorsal-oriented gills on abdominal segments, giving rise to the common name "large squaregill mayflies." The family has a disjunct Holarctic-Oriental distribution with recent findings in southwestern and northwestern China linking previously isolated genera biogeographically.
Neopilionidae
Neopilionidae is a family of harvestmen in the order Opiliones. Its members are especially associated with southern continents and islands that once formed part of Gondwana, including Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, South Africa, and South America. The family includes tiny forms and long-legged species, with striking variation in color and appendage shape.
Neopseustidae
archaic bell moths
Neopseustidae is a small family of moths placed in its own superfamily, Neopseustoidea, within Lepidoptera. The family is represented by four listed genera—Apoplania, Nematocentropus, Neopseustis, and Synempora—and about 13 described species are commonly cited in general references. Records are concentrated in South America and Southeast Asia, giving the group a notably disjunct geographic pattern. Its biology remains poorly known, so many familiar details about feeding, immature stages, and host plants cannot be assigned safely to the family as a whole.
Nevrorthidae
Nevrorthidae is a small family of lacewings in the order Neuroptera. Its living members are grouped in four genera with separated populations around the Mediterranean, eastern Asia, and southeastern Australia. The larval stage is especially distinctive: larvae live in freshwater sediments and use paired stylets to capture small prey. Fossil evidence shows that nevrorthid-like larvae had aquatic adaptations by the Middle Jurassic.
Odontiinae
Odontiinae is a subfamily of moths in the family Crambidae, containing approximately 100 genera organized into three tribes: Hercynini, Eurrhypini, and Odontiini. The subfamily exhibits a distinctive biogeographic pattern with exceptional diversity in arid and semi-arid regions, particularly in southwestern North America and western/central Asia. North American species show strong southwestern eremic specialization, with 34 of 57 species restricted to arid habitats, contrasting with depauperate eastern faunas. The group includes both widespread temperate species and highly restricted endemics in alpine and desert environments.
Orsolobidae
Orsolobidae is a family of small, six-eyed araneomorph spiders. The family was described by J. A. L. Cooke in 1965 and later raised from Dysderidae to family rank in 1985. Its diversity is concentrated in the Southern Hemisphere, especially New Zealand and the Australian region, but the family also occurs in southern Africa and South America.
Orthacridinae
Orthacridinae is a subfamily of grasshoppers in the family Pyrgomorphidae. The name was established by Bolívar in 1905, and Orthacris is identified as the type genus in the taxonomic summary consulted for this guide. Records and reference treatments place members across several warm regions, including Central America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and some Pacific islands. The subfamily contains many genera and tribes, so a single species-level appearance or life-history profile would be misleading.
Orthotrichia
microcaddisfly
Orthotrichia is a genus of microcaddisflies (family Hydroptilidae) containing approximately 280 species worldwide, making it the most species-rich genus in the family. The genus exhibits hypermetamorphosis and has an almost worldwide but patchy distribution, with notable radiations in Australia (55 species, ~20% of global fauna) and China (14 species). Australian species are postulated to represent a relatively recent arrival from the Oriental Region, with morphological and biological differences from Northern Hemisphere congeners suggested to contribute to regional success.
Parasironidae
Parasironidae is a recently described family of mite harvestmen in the order Opiliones. It belongs to Cyphophthalmi, a lineage of small, compact-bodied harvestmen, and is currently known from Mediterranean regions. The family was established in 2024 for four genera and seven species, including three newly described genera and four newly described species.
Parobisium
Parobisium is a genus of poorly dispersing pseudoscorpions in the family Neobisiidae. The genus exhibits a disjunct distribution pattern occurring in western North America and eastern Asia (East Asia), but is absent from Europe and central Asia. Phylogenetic evidence indicates ancient vicariance between East Asian and North American lineages rather than recent dispersal events. Many species are troglomorphic and restricted to karst cave systems.
Petaluridae
petaltails, graybacks
Petaluridae is a relict family of dragonflies (Anisoptera) representing one of the most ancient lineages of extant dragonflies, with fossil records dating to the Jurassic period over 150 million years ago. The family comprises 11 extant species in five genera, divided into two major clades: a Laurasian clade (Tachopteryx, Tanypteryx) distributed in eastern and western North America and Japan, and a Gondwanan clade (Petalura, Phenes, Uropetala) found in Australia, New Zealand, and Chile. Petaltails are notable for their specialized larval habitats and extended development times, with most species persisting as independent lineages for 70–75 million years.
Phylliinae
Phylliinae is the leaf-insect subfamily within the stick-insect order Phasmida. Its members are known for a flattened body and leaf-like expansions that make the insects resemble foliage. The group occurs across tropical and subtropical parts of South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and the western Pacific. Modern phylogenetic work indicates that living leaf insects have a history rooted in the Australasian-Pacific region, followed by dispersal toward mainland Asia.
Prepops
Prepops is the largest genus in the tribe Restheniini (subfamily Mirinae, family Miridae), containing approximately 190–198 described species of plant bugs. The genus exhibits a predominantly Neotropical distribution with 86% of species occurring in this region, while about 11% extend into the Nearctic. Biogeographic analysis reveals high species richness in subtropical regions, with 23 identified areas of endemism spanning the Nearctic, Mexican Transition Zone, Caribbean, and South American subregions.