AbstractThe concept of “areas of endemism”, and the assumption that these patterns are always a consequence of vicariant events, are reviewed. This assumption is related to the idea that areas of endemism have well‐defined limits and never share any surface with other areas of endemism because they must represent sister areas supported by sister taxa. Based on this idea, overlapping areas have been considered rarely, or ignored completely. Using a data set of mammals of North America, we test here whether the overlapping areas are indeed sister areas supported by sister taxa, thus evaluating whether vicariant events are commonly the factor producing areas of endemism.