ABSTRACT
The present distribution of various life forms over geographic regions, being the current state of a set of long term dynamic processes of evolution and dispersal, has often been used to make statements about the past. Long range dispersal from one habitat island to another would only be possible in one of four ways: Active flight only possible for large insects endowed with flight endurance potential. Short range dispersal is much more likely to be active, but since most insects are highly habitat specific, short range dispersal is only of importance within broad habitat types in our case, within the Afromontane region. The higher degree of endemism for insects of the Afroalpine zone than of the montane forest zone corroborates the notion that the Afroalpine zones of the East African mountains have been isolated both more thoroughly and for a longer period.
