Two approaches to zoogeography: a study based on the distributions of butterflies, birds and bats in the Indo-Australian area

In this paper the recorded distributions of butterfly, bird and bat taxa in the Indo-Australian area are subjected to various kinds of numerical analysis. Numerical methods are used to assign primary areas to zoogeographic regions and to assign taxa to faunal elements. An attempt is made to relate these classifications to the past geographical history of the area, and hence to infer something about past trends of spread and speciation in each group.