Print ISSN 1870-3453

GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS

Conditions of acceptance. The manuscripts will be received with the understanding that all authors have approved submission. The results or ideas contained in papers must be original, that is, the work has not been published previously or it has not been submitted simultaneously elsewhere for publication. Either articles or notes are evaluated by at least two anonymous reviewers selected by the associate editor. The final decision of publication is made by the editor- in- chief after reviews and opinions of the associate editors are considered.

Page charges. There are no page charges. The authors will receive 50 free-reprints of the published paper.

Return of materials. When the decision is made not to publish a paper, the original typescript and illustrations will be returned to the author with the reviewers' observations. Other materials will be destroyed. Rejected manuscripts will not be reconsidered. When papers are accepted for publication, the manuscript and the reviewers' suggestions will be returned to the author in order to carry out the pertinent modifications. If the last version is not received within 6 months, the paper will be considered withdrawn for publication and all the materials will be destroyed.

Forms of publications
Articles. Original papers, in Spanish or English, about systematics, biogeography, ecology and evolution of taxa from the Americas. Species lists will be received only if they include a detailed analysis of the information.

Research notes. Brief manuscripts not over 5 pages, with definitive information (preliminary results will not be published) that does not lend itself to inclusion in a more comprehensive article. New species records will be considered for publication, whenever their relevance is justified.

Book reviews. Review of books recently published will be considered.

Guidelines for authors
The manuscripts must be submitted in electronic version on a diskette or as an attachment in an e-mail message (Word or RTF format) to the Editor-in-chief:

Instituto de Biología, UNAM.
Dra. Virginia León-Règagnon.
Editora Diversidad Biológica.
Apartado Postal 70-153.
México, D.F. C.P. 04510.
Tel. (5255) 56 22 91 33;
Fax. (5255) 55 50 01 64
vleon@ibiologia.unam.mx

Text should be typed double-spaced, with all margins at least 25 mm wide. Type must be 12 point (photo-reductions are not acceptable). A single font should be used. Do not use hyphenation, neither justify right-hand margin. Do not leave extra space between paragraphs in the text.

Scientific names must be typed completely for the first time used in the text. Subsequently, the generic name is to be abbreviated, except when it is used at the beginning of a sentence. Genera and species should be in italics, not underlined. Author and date citations for scientific names are necessary only in systematic works. In these last cases, authors and dates must be specified only the first time the name appears in the abstract and in the text. The manuscripts must become attached to the International Code of Nomenclature. Author and date citations used only as authorities for scientific names should not be included in the Literature Cited section.

Articles. The manuscripts must be organized in the following format, numbering all pages consecutively, beginning with that for the title.

Running head. Provide in bold letters and at the beginning of the first page, the last names of authors (use et al. for more than two) and a shortened title; the entire running head may not exceed 60 characters and spaces. Example: Gutiérrez et al.- Hirudinidae del Pacífico Mexicano.

Title. If the manuscript is in English, the title in English must appear at the beginning of the left hand margin in bold letters. Provide a Spanish version of the title starting in a new line. If the manuscript is in Spanish, the title this language should appear first. The titles are followed by the authors’ names and their addresses, written in a new line, beginning at the left hand margin. With an asterisk, indicate the corresponding author, and include her(his) e-mail address. Titles should be short and descriptive. Do not use author and date citations for scientific names. In the title only, numbers less than 11 are spelled out. Numbers indicating papers in a series will not be accepted.

Abstract. Provide an abstract of the paper that does not exceed 200 words. It must include the objective, methods used, conclusions, and significance of the study. This section is headed with the word “Abstract” at the beginning of the line, in bold letters, ending with a period. Text is run in after the colon, is not subdivided, and does not contain literature citations.

Keywords. In a separate line, provide a maximum of 8 key words, not included in the title.

Resumen. The manuscript must include a Spanish version of the Abstract, beginning with the word “Resumen”, likewise of the key words, formatted in the same style as described above.

Introduction. The title for this section (also for Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, and
Acknowledgments) must be typed in bold letters and started at the left hand margin of the page (without indented). Subdivided text will not be accepted.

Material and Methods. Provide enough information to permit repetition of the study.

Results. This section should contain new and concise information. Tables and figures are to be used as appropriate, but information herein should not be repeated in the text. Avoid detailing methods and interpreting results. Taxonomic studies have a particular format, the Results section is replaced by a section headed "Description". Start at the left-handed margin of the line with the italicized scientific name of the taxon studied. Authorities, dates and reference to figures follow. Initiate the description as a new paragraph. The text is followed with a "Taxonomic summary", that comprises a listing data: the locality, the accession numbers of collections where specimens were deposited, and etymology (in new species cases). The taxonomic summary is followed by a "Remarks" section, which replaces the discussion of other articles and gives comparisons to similar or related taxa. This sequence of subsections is repeated for each taxon. If in taxonomic manuscripts the description section does not include all of the results, the format outlined is to be incorporated into the usual section of Results. Museum accession numbers for appropriate type material and for voucher specimens are required. Frozen tissues deposited in a museum, and DNA sequences included in data base must provide accession numbers. The collecting license number is required in pertinent cases.

Discussion. An interpretation and explanation of the relationship of the results to existing knowledge should appear in this section.

Acknowledgements. They should be concise. Ethics require that colleagues be consulted before being mentioned in this section.

Literature cited. Citations are arranged alphabetically. All references cited in the text must appear in this section, and vice verse. Citations of unpublished studies or reports are not acceptable. Style in the text:
(Aguilar, 2000) or Aguilar (2000)
(Aguilar y Camacho, 2001) or Aguilar y Camacho (2001)
(Aguilar et al., 2002) or Aguilar et al. (2002)
(Juárez, 1954; Aguilar, 2000)—in cronological order—
(Juárez, 1954; Aguilar, 2000; Méndez, 2000)—cronological and alphabetical in the same year—
(Juárez, 1954, 1960a, 1960b)

Style in the literature cited section:

Journal article:
Brailovsky, H. y A. Camacho. 2003. Especies nuevas de Nematopus (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Coreidae: Nematopodini) centro y sudamericanas. Anales del Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Serie Zoología 74:135-152.

Book:
Felsestein, J. 2003. Inferring Phylogenies. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts. 664 p.

Chapter in edited book:
Hillis, D. M., B. K. Mable, A. Larson, S. K. Davies y E. A. Zimmer. 1996. Nucleic acids IV: Sequencing and cloning. In Molecular systematics, Hillis, D. M., C. Moritz, and B. K. Mable (eds.). Sinauer, Sunderland, Massachusetts. p. 321-383.

Thesis or dissertation:

Paredes, E. L. 2000. Fauna helmintológica de Rana vaillanti en la región de Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, México. Tesis Licenciatura, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. México, D.F. 69 p.

Note that abbreviations are not used for titles or serial publications and that spaces appear between initials.

Footnotes. These are not permitted in the text. Those for tables are typed directly under the table to which they pertain. Tables. Tables are used only to present data that cannot be incorporated conveniently into the text. These are numbered in a continuous series and so referenced, in sequence, in the text. Captions are typed above the data on the same page. Avoid horizontal lines in the body of the table; vertical lines are not permitted. Tables must be designed to fit in one page. Photo-reductions are not acceptable.

Figures. These are numbered consecutively in the same sequence mentioned in the text. All figure
captions are to appear consecutively on a separate page. The captions are written in paragraph style, beginning with the word "Figure" and the corresponding number in bold letters.

Originals of line drawings are not required for review purposes; provide instead good quality photocopies in order to be evaluated by reviewers. When manuscript is accepted for publication, the original documents will be required. Electronic version of figures should be sent in TIFF format, with a resolution of 600dpi in the case of photographs, and 1200dpi in the case of line drawings.

Research notes. Manuscripts are to be organized in the following sequence: research notes do not have a running head, instead, type "Research note" at the beginning of the first page. Immediately after, provide the title of the note in bold type, names of authors and addresses as described for regular articles, indicating the corresponding author. Notes must include an abstract. The text is written without sections and without extra spacing between paragraphs. Acknowledgements may be given, without heading, as the last paragraph. Literature cited, tables, and figures should follow the same format as articles.

Front cover illustration. Authors are invited to send pictures that are related with their manuscript, in order to participate in the front cover illustration selection process.