Relevant Relicts: The Impact of Fossil Distributions on Biogeographic Reconstruction

Localized extinction can play a significant role in obscuring reconstructions of historical biogeography. Insects, one of the most diverse clades in the tree of life, have complex patterns of local endemism, patterns of relictual distributions, and clades which are rather widespread and cosmopolitan. At the same time, insects have a rich fossil record that can contribute to the inference of ancestral geographical distributions, in light of...