Arifullah Zia

Abstract The boundary between the Palearctic and Oriental biogeographic realms is one of the oldest unresolved problems in Eurasian biogeography. In Central and South Asia, this transition is remarkable and has often been linked to the Indus River Valley, yet the role of adjacent mountain systems and arid landscapes has remained largely untested because critical regions, especially Afghanistan, have been chronically under-sampled due to difficult, long-term socio-political situation.