ORIGINAL PAPER Biogeography of testate amoebae in the soils of Mexico Anatoly Bobrov • Pavel Krasilnikov • Norma Eugenia Garcı ´a-Caldero ´n Received: 21 April 2013 / Accepted: 28 August 2013 / Published online: 13 September 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 Abstract We studied testate amoebae (testates) in the soils of coniferous and deciduous forests and in the wetland and aquatic habitats of Mexico. In 141 samples we found 205 taxa identified to the species or intraspecies level and 68 testate amoebae, which could not be identified to the species level. The highest species diversity of testates was found in the soils of the tropical rainforest (126 species and intraspecific taxa, including spp.) and in tropical wetlands (144 species and intraspecific taxa, including spp.). The study docu- mented testate amoebae with a limited geographical distribution (genera Centropyxis, Cornuapyxis, Ellipsopyxis, Hoogenraadia, Planhoogenraadia, Apolimia, Certesella, Apodera, and Alocodera). We found that testate amoebae in the soils of Mexico had a high level of polymorphism and individual variability. We discuss the value of soil testate amoebae for defining biogeographical regions of Mexico. Keywords Tropical forest and wetlands Á Regionalization Á Testate amoebae Á Habitat Á Biodiversity A. Bobrov (&) Faculty of Soil Science, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, 1–12, 119992 Moscow, Russia e-mail: anatoly-bobrov@yandex.ru P. Krasilnikov Eurasian Center for Food Security, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, 1–12, 119992 Moscow, Russia e-mail: pavel.krasilnikov@ecfs.msu.ru P. Krasilnikov Institute of Biology, Karelian Research Center of Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushkinskaya Str., 11, 185910 Petrozavodsk, Russia N. E. Garcı ´a-Caldero ´n Unidad Multidisciplinaria de Docencia e Investigacio ´n, Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM, Boulevard Juriquilla 3001, Campus UNAM-Juriquilla, CP 76230 Juriquilla, Quere ´taro, Mexico 123 Biodivers Conserv (2013) 22:2837–2855 DOI 10.1007/s10531-013-0558-5