Biogeografia dos peixes marinhos do Atlântico Sul ocidental: Padrões e Processos

Abstract

The presence of an endemic fauna in subtropical western Atlantic has been reported since the nineteenth century, but only in the last fifty years the processes that determined the distribution of organisms in this region have been studied. In this paper, hypothesis about the processes of diversification and the origin of this fauna between the coasts of Rio de Janeiro and Argentina, a region usually referred as Argentinean Province, are reviewed and discussed. Although previous authors have stated that speciation of this fauna was driven by relatively recent marine transgression/regression cycles, it was observed from more recent studies that the origin of endemic taxa in this province would have been older and in result of different processes, particularly dispersal from the eastern South Pacific. Problems in the recognition of endemic taxa and areas of endemism are presented and suggestions for future studies are provided.