We evaluated the biotic and abiotic conditions related to the presence of Phloeosinus tacubayae Hopkins, 1905, to update its distribution and explore new areas to collect the species from potential distribution models and establish its host range. Our results support that P. tacubayae is an oligophagous species distributed mostly in five provinces from the Mexican Transition Zone; its distribution pattern belongs to the Nearctic cenocron and is related to the distribution pattern of its principal host. The modeling and distribution of its hosts suggest invadable zones where new records may exist.

El complejo Ocoaxo de los pinos está integrado por 3 especies (O. assimilis, O. cardonai, O. varians) que se alimentan de la savia de las acículas de Pinus spp. provocando clorosis y su eventual caída. Los crecimientos poblacionales de estos insectos han provocado la defoliación de grandes superficies de bosque en varias localidades del país, por lo cual se les ha dado el estatus de plaga, a pesar de que aún se desconocen aspectos básicos de su biología y distribución. En el presente trabajo se analizaron los registros de especímenes depositados en colecciones entomológicas y bases de datos en línea, que permitieron definir el espacio geográfico donde estas especies están presentes en interacción con los ecosistemas de México, además de proporcionar el espectro alimenticio de su estado adulto, identificar los factores ambientales que potencialmente están asociados a su presencia, así como conocer el periodo en el que se encuentran a lo largo del año. Los análisis de estos datos también permitieron generar hipótesis espaciales de su distribución, estimar los límites de las áreas donde se han reportado y reconocer áreas potenciales para su monitoreo.

Although the number of known tardigrade taxa in Mexico has increased significantly in the last ten years, the knowledge of their diversity faces challenges, as more than half of the Mexican territory has no records of this phylum. Thus, we developed a strategy to provide a present and future scenario for understanding the Mexican biodiversity of Tardigrada, described the distribution patterns of the current recorded species, calculated the estimated richness, and the estimated taxonomic effort needed to complete the national inventory. We obtained 474 records of 105 taxa, belonging to 42 genera and 75 species, distributed in 12 of the 14 biogeographical provinces of Mexico. We found that 54.72% of the species are present in more than three world regions and 3.79% of species that have been recorded only in Mexican provinces. Distribution patterns could be recognized for 11 species, two of which have a Nearctic distribution, seven are Neotropical and two are distributed in both regions. The Mexican biogeographical provinces with the greatest diversity of tardigrades, both at specific and generic level, were the Transmexican Volcanic Belt (TVBP) and the Sierras Madre Oriental (SMOrP) and Sierra Madre Occidental (SMOcP), which have been previously identified as particularly species-rich regions. Diversity estimation methods predict that more than 290 species of tardigrades could be found in Mexico.