>What about other zones-- tropical, subtropical, etc?
There's likely not as broadly-distributed a single taxon in the tropics or
subtropics, unless you go marine or include fishes that tolerate salt water
and move into freshwater opportunistically, and most of the fish-habitable
landmass is in the Northern Hemisphere. There's not the connectivity across
other landmasses that occurs between North America and Eurasia...
I've heard the estimate that the most abundant vertebrate on Earth is a
bristlemouth, Cyclothone pallida. It occurs nearly worldwide in oceans from
the surface to 3000m depth, and are consistently very abundant.
cheers,
Dave
-----
David A. Neely
Dept. of Biology, St. Louis University
St. Louis, MO 63103 USA
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