Fleas of mammals and patterns of distributional congruence in northwestern Argentina: A preliminary biogeographic analysis

In few groups of parasites have the patterns of distribution been studied using quantitative methods, even though, the study of these organisms indirectly provides information on the biogeographic history of their hosts, and in turn, the history of the hosts allows elucidation of speciation events of the parasites. Our objective was to quantitatively identify distributional congruence patterns of native fleas in northwestern Argentina. We analyzed 159 georeferenced distributional records of 47 species and six subspecies of fleas in northwestern Argentina using NDM/VNDM software. We found eight consensus areas, defined by 17 species and two subspecies, included in six patterns of distributional congruence (PDCs) with endemic and non-endemic fleas. The PDCs with the greatest values of endemicity (E) were mainly associated with Monte and Yungas Forests areas. All patterns indicated strong tendency of the Yungas Forests as a possible endemism area. Our results indicate that distributional congruence centers are generally located in Yungas Forests areas and highlight the importance of these areas in conservation and historical biology. This new information will allow delimitation of areas in the region at a more detailed resolution in the future.