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The distributions of 229 beefly (Diptera: Bombyliidae) species across the eight Egyptian ecological zones, together with their faunal affinities to the main zoogeographical regions, were used to test the suggestion of Holt et al. (2013) that the SaharoArabian is a distinct region rather than a subregion of the Palaearctic. All Egyptian ecological zones but one have greater affiliation to the Palaearctic and SaharoArabian than to the Afrotropical region; the Gebel Elba ecological zone, the southeastern triangle of Egypt, has greater affinities with the Afrotropics. Affinities to the Saharo-Arabian region were not different from those to the Palaearctic. From its bombyliid fauna, therefore, the Saharo-Arabian region is so closely allied to the Palaearctic as to constitute merely a subregion of it. Sinai shows a high level of endemism reflecting its isolation from other parts of Egypt.