The muricid gastropod Concholepas concholepas, known in Chile as 'loco', is an important component of intertidal and shallow subtidal communities, and is one of the main invertebrates targeted by small-scale fishers (divers) in Chile. Because of its ecological importance and economical value, numerous studies have been conducted to describe its life history, ecology and to understand population dynamics, fishery and management. However, little effort has been done to address the causal factor (s) behind its current geographic distribution and moreover little is known about the past distribution of the different species in the genus. In this paper, first we review the paleobiogeography, historical relationships, taxonomy and geographical distribution of... |