DISTRIBUTION AND RANGE STRUCTURE OF THE BRISTLETAIL GENUS ALLOPSONTUS SILV. (MACHILIDAE, MICROCORYPHIA)

The distributions of all eight subgenera and 52 species of the large southern Palearctic genus Allopsontus are analyzed. Species of this genus are found mainly in open foothill and mountain habitats with steppe vegetation and rocky-gravelly substrates. The general distribution range of the genus lies within the Scythian (steppe), Sahara-Gobi (desert), European and Stenopean (broadleaf’s), as well as Mediterranean-Macaronesian and Ortrian (evergreen) regions of the Palearctic. The species of the nominative and most species-rich subgenus occupy most of the range of the genus. Phylogenetically, from the relatively primitive subgenus Kaplinilis to the most specialized subgenus Machilanus, there is a tendency to shift the ranges of the subgenera from north to south, which is accompanied by a shift in their habitats from the lower mountain belts to the upper ones with a rocky substrate. The center of subgeneric diversity of the genus Allopsontus is located in the mountains of the older Ural-Mongolian mountain system, whence its species could have spread to the mountains of the younger Alpine-Himalayan belt.