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metaunguitractor plate usually with 1 apical,
1 subapical seta (characters 64, 70); and each
paramere apically rounded, usually not expanded,
and usually without a setose patch
(characters 74, 75, 78). This clade was part of
the “flavostriata group” of Ohaus (1904b) and
was split into various groups by Machatschke
(1965). The clade is found in the Andes Mountains
from Venezuela to Bolivia. Members of
this clade generally occur in the Montane
Wet Forest regions on the eastern slope of the
Andes Mountains but several groups also occur
in the high elevation Páramo and Puna
regions. The Páramo region is a patchwork of
MONOGRAPHIC REVISION OF PLATYCOELIA 29
moist habitats from Venezuela to northern
Perú above continuous treeline. The Puna region
is an extensive area in Perú, Bolivia,
and northern Argentina above continuous
treeline but much drier than the Páramo region.
Several species in this clade have adaptations
and modifications that presumably
allow for survival in harsh, montane conditions
present in the Páramo and Puna regions.
The increasing elevation of the Andes Mountains
throughout the Tertiary resulted in the
Páramo and Puna regions and probably facilitated
speciation within this clade of
Platycoelia.
Fig. 38. Phylogram of the species in the genus Platycoelia. This is one of the 9 equally parsimonious trees
found after successive approximation weighting. The treelength = 157.5; consistency index = 0.401; retention
index 0.724; rescaled consistency index = 0.290.