Background: Survival in microrefugia represents an important paradigm in phylogeography for explaining rapid postglacial re-colonization by species in temperate regions. Microrefugia may allow populations to persist in areas where the climatic conditions on the surface have become unfavourable. Caves generally contain stable microclimates and may represent microrefugia for species capable of exploiting both cave and surface habitats (troglophiles). We examine the phylogeography of the troglophilic North American vaejovid scorpion Pseudouroctonus reddelli using 1,993 base pairs...

Understanding the biogeographic origins and temporal sequencing of groups within a region or of lineages within an ecosystem can yield important insights into evolutionary dynamics and ecological processes. Fifty years ago, Ernst Mayr generated comprehensive—if limited—inferences about the origins of the New World avifaunas, including the importance of pre-Isthmian dispersal between North and South America. Since then, methodological advances have improved our ability to address many of the same questions, but the phylogenies upon which...