A number of biological families are remarkably diverse in Southern Africa, showing clear patterns of spatial segregation. Some families of dung beetles and moths are already known to exhibit strong spatial differentiation in spite of sharing apparently very similar ecological niches. In particular, there are distinct divides between some species distributions in Northwest Zambia. My DPhil project will investigate the biogeographical factors that have determined the past and present distribution of dung beetles, moths, and potentially other groups of animals using taxonomic, genomic, GIS, climatic, and geological data.
