Phylogeography has become a powerful approach for elucidating contemporary
geographical patterns of evolutionary subdivision within species and specie
s complexes. A recent extension of this approach is the comparison of phylo
geographic patterns of multiple co-distributed taxonomic groups, or 'compar
ative phylogeography.' Recent comparative phylogeographic studies have reve
aled pervasive and previously unrecognized biogeographic patterns which sug
gest that vicariance has played a more important role in the historical dev
elopment of modern biotic assemblages than current taxonomy would indicate.
Despite the utility of comparative phylogeography for uncovering such 'cry
ptic vicariance', this approach has yet to be embraced by some researchers
as a valuable complement to other approaches to historical biogeography. We
address here some of the common misconceptions surrounding comparative phy
logeography, provide an example of this approach based on the boreal mammal
fauna of North America, and argue that together with other approaches, com
parative phylogeography can contribute importantly to our understanding of
the relationship between earth history and biotic diversification.