Abstract:
Aim: In contrast to the attention given to southern Europe both as a centre of
speciation and differentiation and as a Pleistocene refugium of Western Palae-
arctic taxa, North Africa has been relatively neglected. In this paper, we set out
to address this shortfall.
Location North-West Africa and the Mediterranean.
Methods We reviewed the existing literature on the biogeography of North
Africa, and carried out analyses of species distribution data using parsimony,
nestedness and co-occurrence methods.
Results In many cases, distribution patterns of non-flying mammals, bats,
amphibians, reptiles, butterflies, zygaenid moths and odonates demonstrated
important biogeographical affinities between Europe and North Africa at the
species level. On the other hand, species co-occurrence, nestedness and parsi-
mony analysis also revealed some deep splits between the Maghreb and Europe;
yet even in these cases the closest affinities were found between the Iberian
Peninsula and the Maghreb. Furthermore, North Africa harbours the highest
proportion of endemic taxa (13.7%) across all groups analysed. Many molecu-
lar studies demonstrated a strong genetic cohesiveness between North Africa
and Europe despite the potential barrier effect of the Mediterranean Sea. In
other taxa, however, remarkable splits were detected. In addition, southern
European genetic lineages were often nested within North African clades, and
many taxa showed exceptionally high genetic variability and differentiation in
this region.
Main conclusions The Maghreb was an important differentiation and specia-
tion centre for thermophilic organisms during the Pliocene and Pleistocene
with high relevance as a colonization source for Europe. The regions around
the sea straits of Gibraltar and Sicily have acted as important biogeographical
links between North Africa and Europe at different times.
