This biogeographical analysis examines the historical, geological, climatic and ecological processes that have influenced the formation of the dry tropical forests (DTF) of Mesoamerica and Colombia, areas that are the setting for multiple biogeographical stories that in this case are illustrated by the patterns and evolutionary processes of Canthonini. In this study we test the hypothesis that the Canthonini fauna of dry tropical forests has a South American affinity. To this end, we compare extant species from a tract of dry tropical forest in Mexico, a second enclave in Costa Rica, four from the Caribbean region of Colombia and finally one from the north of Tolima in the Upper Magdalena River Valley, Colombia. The geomorphological characteristics of the enclaves of DTF are also compared, as are the geographical distribution and taxonomic affinities of each of the species found in these dry tropical forests. The biogeographical, historical and geological aspects of the enclaves were evaluated using a Parsimony Analysis of Endemicity (PAE), with two tropical rain forests as the outgroup: Leticia (Amazonas, Colombia) and Los Tuxtlas (Veracruz, Mexico).
