Areas of endemism for scale insects in China

The identification of areas of endemism (AOEs) has been a major challenge in biogeography. In the present study, parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE) was used to define the AOEs of scale insect species in China. A total of 11 Chinese scale insect endemic areas, Tianshan mountain (A2-B1), South Tibet (H2-H3), Eastern Qinling Mountain (E12-E13), Dalou mountain (G11-H11), West Yunnan (19, J9-J10, K9), Hainan Island-South west Guangdong (M13-L14), South Guangdong (K15-K16), South Fujian (J17-J18), Center Zhejiang (H18-H19), Taiwan Island (K19-L19) and association of Henan and Hubei (F15-G16), had been identified based on a distribution database of 506 endemic scale insect species. The Chinese areas of scale insects endemism showed a remarkable mountain effect. Hainan and Taiwan islands showed considerable endemism. Moreover, most of these AOEs were found to be endemic sites for several other plants and animals. These results will provide important information for further studies on scale insects diversity in China.