biogeographic region

biogeographic region, area of animal and plant distribution having similar or shared characteristics throughout.


Geographic regions around the world that have similar environmental conditions are capable of harbouring the same type of biota. This situation effectively separates the biosphere into biomes—ecological communities that have the same climatic conditions and geologic features and that support species with similar life strategies and adaptations. The biome is the fundamental unit of which larger biogeographic regions (floral kingdoms and faunal realms) consist. The tropical forest is one type of terrestrial biome; it is located at various points around the planet where climatic and geologic conditions produce similar environments. The tropical forest biome contains the same general kinds of biological communities wherever it occurs; however, the individual species will not be the same from one tropical forest to another. Instead, each forest will support organisms that are ecologically equivalent—i.e., different species that have a similar life cycle and have adapted analogously to environmental conditions.

How the unique distributions of animals and plants in various biomes came to be is not explicable purely through present climatic factors and latitudinal zonation. Geologic events such as continental drift and past climatic conditions must be taken into consideration as well. This is the approach used in historical biogeography to study the distributions of flora and fauna throughout the world (Figures Floral kingdoms, subkingdoms, and major regions of the world.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. and Faunal realms and major regions of the world.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.).

General features

The concept of biogeography


Biogeography, the study of animal and plant distributions (and known individually as zoogeography and phytogeography, respectively), was a subject that began to receive much attention in the 19th century. One of the first modern delimitations of biogeographic regions was created in 1858 by the English ornithologist Philip L. Sclater, who based his division of the terrestrial world on the distributions of birds. In the 1870s the biologist Adolf Engler devised a schema based on plant distributions. The phytogeographic work of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, a plant collector and systematist, and the zoogeographic work of Alfred Russel Wallace greatly influenced the work of Charles Darwin. The Darwinian theory of evolution, accordingly, was firmly rooted in the emerging biogeographic understanding of the era; in On the Origin of Species Darwin included two key chapters (12 and 13) on geographic distribution in which he referred to both Hooker and Wallace. At high altitudes in the tropics Hooker had found plants that were normally restricted to temperate zones, and Darwin interpreted these observations as evidence of past climatic change. Darwin also adopted Wallace’s view of faunal distribution among islands: those islands exhibiting similar faunas are separated only by shallow water and were once a contiguous landmass that presented no barrier to animal dispersal, whereas those islands whose faunas are dissimilar are separated by deep seaways that have always existed and barred the migration of species.

Biotic distributions

Geographic factors have played a significant role at every level of taxonomic division. Populations that become isolated by means of a geographic barrier will tend to diverge from their species. Although these barriers—which include seaways, rivers, mountain ranges, deserts, and other hostile environments—appear minor, they nevertheless can put a wedge between taxa, eventually causing related species, genera, families, and so on (on up the taxonomic hierarchy) to diverge. An example of this mechanism is seen in the Gregory Rift Valley, the eastern branch of the East African Rift System; distinctive subspecies of wildebeest are represented on either side of the rift valley, with the subspecies Connochaetes taurinus albojubatus occurring on the east side and C. taurinus hecki on the west. Other mammals such as blue, or diadem, monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis) exhibit similar geographic variation. The broad Congo River in central Africa is a barrier between many congeneric species (those that share the same genus) of primates, such as the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) found on the north side of the river and the pygmy chimpanzee (P. paniscus), or bonobo, living to the south of the river. More significant biogeographic divisions occur between genera of the same family that live on different continents, as is the case with African elephants (Loxodonta) and Asian elephants (Elephas). Whole families or suborders may differ from one major biogeographic realm to another, as is seen in the primate divisions of Old World monkeys (catarrhines), which are found in Africa and Asia, and the New World monkeys (platyrrhines) from South America.

Dispersalist and vicariance biogeography

Within historical biogeography, two views—the dispersalist and vicariance hypotheses of biotic distribution patterns—have been at odds. According to the dispersalist view, speciation occurs as animals spread out from a centre of origin, crossing preexisting barriers that they would not readily recross and that would cut them off from the original group. The vicariance explanation states that a species that is present over a wide area becomes fragmented (vicariated) as a barrier develops, as occurred through the process of continental drift. These patterns, however, are not mutually exclusive, and both provide insight into the modes of biogeographic distribution. Traditionally biogeographers—and of these mainly zoogeographers such as William Diller Matthew, George Gaylord Simpson, and Philip J. Darlington, Jr.—accepted a number of explanations for the modes of species distribution and differentiation that generally fell into a dispersalist view.

In a series of works from the 1950s and ’60s the maverick Venezuelan phytogeographer Leon Croizat strongly objected to this dispersalist explanation of species distribution, which he interpreted as ad hoc events used to explain the geographic distribution of living organisms. He maintained that the regularity in biogeographic relationships was too great to be explained by the chance crossings of barriers. In the 1970s his works sparked the development of the theory of vicarianism.

In spite of the polarization of these views among biogeographers, patterns of distribution can be explained by a combination of dispersalist and vicariance biogeography. Many biogeographers believe that the vicariance process forms the underlying mechanism of distributional diversity, with the dispersalist mode operating more sporadically.


A taxon whose distribution is confined to a given area is said to be endemic to that area. The taxon may be of any rank, although it is usually at a family level or below, and its range of distribution may be wide, spanning an entire continent, or very narrow, covering only a few square metres: a species of squirrel (Sciurus kaibabensis) is endemic to the Kaibab Plateau in Arizona (U.S.), the primate family Lemuridae is endemic to Madagascar, and the mammalian subclass Prototheria (monotremes) is endemic to the Notogaean (Australian) realm (see below Notogaean realm). A distinction is often made between neoendemics (taxa of low rank [e.g., species] that have not had time to spread beyond their region of origin) and paleoendemics (taxa of high rank [e.g., class] that have not yet died out).

The concept of endemism is important because in the past the formulation of biogeographic regions was based on it. The limits of a region are determined by mapping the distributions of taxa; where the outer boundaries of many taxa occur, a line delimiting a biogeographic region is drawn. Major regions (kingdoms and realms) are still determined as those that have the most endemics or, stated another way, those that share the fewest taxa with other regions. As regions are further broken down into subdivisions, they will contain fewer unique taxa.

This method has been criticized because it assumes that species ranges are stable, which they are not. An alternative method of determining biogeographic regions involves calculating degrees of similarity between geographic regions. Similarities of regions can be quantified using Jaccard’s coefficient of biotic similarity, which is determined by the equation:


If two areas are being compared, the coefficient of similarity, s, is determined by dividing the number of taxa shared between the areas, c, by the sum of c and the number of taxa peculiar to each area alone, a and b. The larger the coefficient, the more dissimilar are the areas.

Components of species diversity: species richness and relative abundance

Species diversity is determined not only by the number of species within a biological community—i.e., species richness—but also by the relative abundance of individuals in that community. Species abundance is the number of individuals per species, and relative abundance refers to the evenness of distribution of individuals among species in a community. Two communities may be equally rich in species but differ in relative abundance. For example, each community may contain 5 species and 300 individuals, but in one community all species are equally common (e.g., 60 individuals of each species), while in the second community one species significantly outnumbers the other four.

These components of species diversity respond differently to various environmental conditions. A region that does not have a wide variety of habitats usually is species-poor; however, the few species that are able to occupy the region may be abundant because competition with other species for resources will be reduced.

Trends in species richness may reveal a good deal about both past and present conditions of a region. The Antarctic continent has few species because its environment is so inhospitable; however, oceanic islands are species-poor because they are hard to reach, or, as is the case with the Lesser Sunda Islands in south-central Indonesia, because they are of rather recent origin and organisms have not had enough time to establish themselves.

Global gradients also affect species richness. The most obvious gradient is latitudinal: there are more species in the tropics than in the temperate or polar zones. Ecological factors commonly are used to account for this gradation. Higher temperatures, greater climate predictability, and longer growing seasons all conspire to create a more inviting habitat, permitting a greater diversity of species. Tropical rainforests are the richest habitat of all, tropical grasslands exhibit more diversity than temperate grasslands, and deserts in tropical or subtropical regions are populated by a wider range of species than are temperate deserts.

Another factor affecting the species richness of a given area is the distance or barrier that separates the area from potential sources of species. The probability that species will reach remote oceanic islands or isolated valleys is slight. Animal species, especially those that do not fly, are less likely than plant species to do so. The Lesser Sunda Islands are similar to eastern Java in climate and vegetation, but they have far fewer strictly terrestrial animals. This situation is attributed to the fact that, whereas Java has been connected to a larger landmass in the past, the Lesser Sundas have not. While plants and seeds have been blown across intervening seas, few species of animals that do not have wings have reached these islands.

Species adaptations to ecological habitats

Neither an environment nor an organism is a static entity. Hence, changes in either will disrupt the relationship that has evolved between the two. Small changes in an organism may actually improve the interaction—a random genetic mutation allowing a plant to utilize a nutrient that has been present but previously unusable by the plant will increase the organism’s ability to survive. Changes of an extreme nature, however, are almost always maladaptive. Small environmental variations may present a challenge that organisms can meet by mounting a physiological response or, if they are mobile, by removing themselves to a less stressful area. Catastrophic disruptions, however, may create an environment no longer hospitable to the organisms, and they may die out as a result.

Although the distribution patterns of species are dictated by environmental conditions, the actual range of a species is not identical to its potential range—namely, the area that is ecologically compatible with its needs. For example, the biogeographic regions of the world are related to climatic factors, but they are not coterminous with them. Thus, desert biomes, which are located at latitudes of 30° N and S, and tropical rainforest biomes, which arise around the Equator, can be found in most phytogeographic kingdoms and zoogeographic realms.

The effects of geologic changes on biotic distributions

The theory of plate tectonics, formulated in the 1960s, is now firmly established. Its explanation of the dynamic nature of continental landmasses has been important not only within the field of geology but also within the field of biogeography; it has entirely revolutionized the interpretion of the dispersal of flora and fauna (see also plate tectonics: Plate tectonics as an explanation for Earth processes). The slow movement of continents has been used to explain both the isolation and intermingling of populations. Prior to the acceptance of this idea, land bridges and sunken continents were invoked as the means by which continents were linked in the geologic past. While land bridges, such as the Bering Strait land bridge that connected western North America to Asia, have existed and contributed to the dispersal of organisms, they no longer are believed to have been as ubiquitous and instrumental in this process as once was thought. Such hypothetical land bridges as Archhelenis, which purportedly connected South America and southwestern Africa, are now regarded by most experts as relics of the fertile imaginations of early biogeographers.

During much of the Mesozoic Era (251 million to 65.5 million years ago), the continents formed a single mass that has been named Pangaea. In the Early Cretaceous Epoch (145.5 million to 99.6 million years ago), the Tethys seaway formed and split Pangaea into a northern continent, Laurasia (encompassing Eurasia and North America), and a southern continent, Gondwanaland (including South America, Antarctica, Africa, India, and Australia). Notwithstanding transient and shifting epicontinental seaways, flora and fauna essentially were able to move freely within the Northern and Southern hemispheres but not between them. During the Late Cretaceous and throughout much of the Cenozoic, Gondwanaland split up and its component parts drifted apart, some of them forming connections with Laurasia, which remained more or less a continuous landmass. According to this model, Australia has remained separate from other continents since the Eocene Epoch (55.8 million to 33.9 million years ago) and had been in contact only with an already polar Antarctica from the Late Cretaceous onward, which helps to explain its remarkably distinct flora and fauna. The life-forms of South America are only less distinctive than those of Australia. Separated from other continents since the Eocene, South America did not have a permanently established connection with North America until the Pliocene (5.3 million to 2.6 million years ago). Only then was some interchange, especially of faunas, permitted. Africa had achieved proximity to Laurasia by the Paleocene Epoch (65.5 million to 55.8 million years ago) and has remained in tenuous connection to Eurasia ever since, so that its present flora and fauna are much more similar to the rest of the Old World tropics. India had formed a broad connection with Laurasia in the Paleogene Period and so has no strongly distinctive (paleoendemic) organisms.

The distribution boundaries of flora and fauna










Boreal kingdom


This kingdom is divided into six regions.

Arctic and subarctic region

This region is the boreal tundra zone, extending from Spitsbergen (an island in the Arctic Ocean to the north of Norway) around the shores of the Arctic Ocean through Siberia and Arctic North America to Greenland (). Flowering plants in this region are poor in diversity, but cryptogams are more diverse.

East Asian region


Western and Central Asian region

Centred on the desert steppes of Central Asia and Mongolia, this floristic zone consists of 200 or more endemic genera and extends from the Caucasus to the Plateau of Tibet, with arid zone plants of the family Chenopodiaceae (goosefoot) and genera such as Salix (willow), Astragalus (milk vetch), and Picea (spruce) ().

Mediterranean region

The Mediterranean region is the winter rainfall zone of the Holarctic kingdom (). It is characterized by sclerophyllous plants mainly of the scrubland type known as maquis. It is difficult to define, however, because many of its characteristic plants (about 250 genera) are centred around but not confined to this region. The region extends entirely around the Mediterranean, from Portugal to Syria. Some classifications place the Canary Islands, which contain a subtropical rainforest biome, in this region, but Good categorizes these islands with the other eastern Atlantic island groups in a separate Macaronesian region, which contains about 30 endemic genera.

Eurosiberian region

The Eurosiberian region extends from Iceland around most of Europe via Siberia to Kamchatka. Conifers of the family Pinaceae—Pinus (pine), Larix (larch), Picea, and Abies (fir)—grow in vast, monospecific stands and give way to temperate deciduous forest to the south, tundra to the north, and moorlands (which contain Ericaceae [heath family], Carex [sedge], and Sphagnum moss in suitable areas). The western part of the region is much richer in species than the eastern part: there are about 100 genera that are endemic to Europe, with only about 12 endemic to Siberia.

North American region

The vegetation to the east of the Bering Strait, in the North American region (), closely resembles that to the west, in the Eurosiberian region, with slight variations. The conifer genera Tsuga (hemlock), Sequoia (redwood), and others replace their Eurosiberian counterparts, and there are nine endemic families of flowering plants. Good and others separate the eastern (Atlantic) and western (Pacific) halves of North America into distinct regions, with 100 genera endemic to the Atlantic region and 300 endemic to the Pacific, although these endemic taxa comprise only a small part of the total flora.

Paleotropical kingdom

This kingdom extends from Africa, excluding strips along the northern and southern edges, through the Arabian peninsula, India, and Southeast Asia eastward into the Pacific (). Plant families that extend over much of the region include the families Pandanaceae (screw pine) and Nepenthaceae (East Indian pitcher plant). The flora in this huge region, however, is not homogenous: 98 percent of species of Hawaiian flora are endemic, as are 70 percent of Fijian floral species and 60 percent of the floral species of New Caledonia. The divisions of the kingdom are disputed, but those most commonly recognized are the Malesian, Indoafrican, and Polynesian subkingdoms.

Malesian subkingdom

This subkingdom encompasses the islands of Southeast Asia and the Malay Peninsula, extending as far east as the mainland of New Guinea (Boundaries of the Malesian floral subkingdom and its three major divisions.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.). Although it had sometimes been included with India in an Indo-Malayan region, the flora of what C.G.G.J. van Steenis (1950) called Malesia forms a tight-knit unity that can be subdivided into three divisions: a western area covering the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines; a southern area of Java and the Lesser Sundas; and an eastern area of Celebes, the Moluccas, and New Guinea. The region boasts approximately 400 endemic genera (20 percent of the total flora of the Earth), of which 130 genera are found in the western division, 15 in the southern division, and 150 in the eastern division. The biome types range from tropical rainforest to montane and cloud forest, with drier biome types in areas of the southern division. The rainforest biomes in the western part of the region are characterized by the dominance of the family Dipterocarpaceae, although the Guttiferae, Moraceae (mulberry), and Annonaceae (custard apple) families also are found throughout.

Indoafrican subkingdom

In the Indoafrican subkingdom (), curiously little distinction is to be made between the flora of Africa (south of the Sahara) and the Indian subcontinent, Myanmar (Burma), and southern China. These areas are narrowly connected by a corridor running through the Arabian Peninsula and southern Iran. The flora of the island of Madagascar is the most divergent in the region and is often regarded as forming a separate region; the island has 12 endemic families and 350 endemic genera, although these form only about a quarter of the total. The flora of Sri Lanka has almost as much in common with Malesia as it does with India. Vegetation ranges from rainforest to semiarid steppe. The families Leguminoseae (legume) and Asteraceae (aster), often called Compositae, achieve their greatest diversity in the region, together with Combretaceae (Indian almond) and, in the arid south of Madagascar, Didiereaceae. Characteristic genera include the grasses Andropogon and Panicum and the giant baobab (Adansonia). In the montane (Afroalpine) zones Lobelia, Senecio, and Erica (heath) are characteristic. About 50 endemic genera define a desert zone extending from the Sahara to northwestern India; 500 are endemic to tropical Africa, 120 to India, and 300 to continental Southeast Asia, but the boundaries of these zones are poorly defined and the distributions of the endemics are only weakly coterminous.

Polynesian subkingdom

In many respects the Pacific islands are outliers of Malesia, but each of the four main divisions within the Polynesian subkingdom—Hawaii; the remaining portion of Polynesia; Melanesia and Micronesia; and New Caledonia, with Lord Howe and Norfolk islands ()—has a high number of endemic taxa. Hawaii has more than 40 endemic genera; Polynesia, excluding Hawaii, has almost 20; the division of Melanesia and Micronesia has 38, with 17 confined to Fiji; and New Caledonia has 135 among a total of 600 genera native to the island. Only 21 of the subkingdom’s endemic genera occur in more than one of the four divisions. The unbalanced aspect of the flora is illustrated by the dominance, among the endemics, of the Arecaceae family, sometimes called Palmae—there are more than 35 endemic genera of palms in the Polynesian subkingdom—and a few other families.

Neotropical kingdom

Essentially the Neotropical kingdom covers all but the extreme southern tip and southwestern strip of South America; Central America; Mexico, excluding the dry north and centre; and beyond to the West Indies and the southern tip of Florida (). The vegetation ranges from tropical rainforest in the Amazon and Orinoco basins to open savanna in Venezuela (the Llanos) and Argentina (the Pampas). Forty-seven families and nearly 3,000 genera of flowering plants are endemic to this kingdom; some families, including Bromeliaceae (pineapple) and Cactaceae (cactus), are virtually confined to this kingdom. Within the kingdom, Central America, which includes Mexico and the isthmus, the West Indies, the Venezuela-Guyana region, Brazil, the Andes, and the Pampas all have some measure of endemicity. Although impoverished, the Juan Fernández Islands and the Desventurados Islands, located off the west coast of Chile, exhibit a high endemicity with a general Neotropical affinity.

South African kingdom

The South African, or Capensic, kingdom () consists of the southern and southwestern tip of Africa, the area around the Cape of Good Hope (hence, the designation “Capensic”). It is remarkably rich in plants; 11 families and 500 genera are endemic. This is the smallest of the phytogeographic kingdoms. The winter rainfall climatic regime mimics that of the Mediterranean region, and the general aspect of the vegetation is akin to the scrubland vegetation (maquis) of that region. At the edges of this tiny, restricted zone, the flora merges into the typical flora of Africa—Paleotropical.

Australian kingdom

The continent of Australia forms a kingdom sharply distinct from the Paleotropic (). Rainforest biomes—from tropical in the north that include monsoon forests to temperate in the far south, especially Tasmania—occur along the eastern seaboard. Woodlands of Eucalyptus cover much of the eastern third of the continent, and a mosaic of remarkable temperate forests and Banksia heathland are found in the southwest. (These two elements of Australian flora, while conspicuous, are not endemic; there are a few species of Eucalyptus in eastern New Guinea, New Britain, the Lesser Sundas, and the Philippines, and one species of Banksia is found in New Guinea.) Otherwise much of the vegetation is semiarid or adapted to the dryness. About 19 families and 500 genera are endemic. Only the tropical rainforests of northeastern Queensland have a mixed flora, with a notable Malesian element.

Antarctic kingdom

This kingdom includes the southern tip of South America, extending some distance north along the Chilean coast; New Zealand; and the Antarctic and subantarctic islands (). Antarctic and Paleotropical flora occur in an interesting and interdigitating pattern in South Island of New Zealand, Tasmania, and the Australian Alps. According to Good, about 50 genera are common in this kingdom.

Subantarctic region

Southern Chile, Patagonia, and New Zealand comprise the Subantarctic region (). It has a distinctive forest flora, of which Nothofagus (southern beech) is perhaps the most characteristic element.

Antarctic region

The Antarctic region includes the Antarctic islands and areas on the margin of the continent (). The flora of this region is exceedingly impoverished. In general, flowering plants do not survive the harsh climate well, and mosses and other cryptogams form the main element. Traces of true Antarctic flora can be found at higher altitudes in New Zealand and southern Australia, especially Tasmania.


Although the earliest study of the geographic distribution of animals was that of Sclater in 1858 (see above History), it was Wallace who set the parameters to determine the zoogeographic regions, or realms, in his classic book, The Geographical Distribution of Animals (1876). Wallace recognized three realms: Megagaea or Arcotogaea, which includes Africa, Eurasia, and North America; Notogaea, including Australia, Oceania, and New Zealand; and Neogaea, including Central and South America. His divisions, although modified, form the basis of the realms recognized today ().

Although different species have different dispersal abilities, even bird and insect distributions can be accounted for by traditional zoogeographic boundaries. In general, the distribution of terrestrial mammals, freshwater fish, and invertebrates seem to correspond well and provide the best evidence of zoogeographic divisions.

The zones where faunas mix have in many cases been well studied. Some classifications arbitrarily include them in one region (or realm), and some omit them from any formal assignment and relegate them to a Subtraction-Transition zone. An example of such a zone is Wallacea, which includes the Philippines, Celebes, the Moluccas, and the Lesser Sundas (). Located between the Paleotropical and Australian realms, Wallacea contains a mixture of both regions. The fauna is impoverished and unbalanced, but the area does have a high endemicity.

The following divisions are based on and modified to a great degree from the work of P.J. Darlington.

Holarctic realm

The Holarctic () is usually divided on the basis of terrestrial organisms into two regions: Nearctic (North America) and Palearctic (Eurasia and North Africa). Unlike the North American phytogeographic region, the Nearctic zoogeographic region extends south to include all of Florida and Baja California. Some intriguing disjunct distributions are found in the Holarctic: some taxa are shared between Europe and eastern North America, some between Europe and eastern Asia, and others between western North America and eastern Asia. These distributions are perhaps explicable on the basis of the movement, in the recent past, of climatic zones.

Specialists on freshwater fish and invertebrates prefer to divide the Holarctic more finely. Petru Banarescu recognizes the following regions: Euro-Mediterranean; Siberian, Baikal, and Western Mongolian; Eastern, Western, and Arctic North American; and Central Mexican.

Among the families characteristic of this realm are mammals such as Talpidae (moles), Castoridae (beavers), Ochotonidae (pikas); amphibians such as three families of salamanders, Salamandridae, Cryptobranchidae, and Proteidae; and invertebrates such as the freshwater crayfish family Astacidae.

Paleotropical realm

The Paleotropical, or Afro-Tethyan, realm () is clearly divided into two regions, which are sometimes regarded as separate realms: the Afrotropical, which includes continental Africa south of the Sahara and southwestern Arabia, and the Oriental, which includes tropical southern and southeastern Asia, including associated continental islands. Two other regions, Madagascar and Wallacea, are commonly separated from the two main ones.

Being in continuous geographic contact, the Paleotropical and the Holarctic realms merge into one another. Nevertheless, each has many distinct elements, in part but not entirely because of their different climates. The mammalian orders Pholidota (pangolins) and Proboscidea (elephants) are endemic to the Paleotropical region. Mammalian families that are confined to and extend across the realm include the Cercopithecidae (Old World monkeys), Lorisidae (lorises, bush babies, angwantibo, and potto), Hystricidae (Old World porcupines), Viverridae (civets and mongooses), Rhinocerotidae (rhinoceroses), and Tragulidae (chevrotains). Endemic avian families include Bucerotidae (hornbills) and Pittidae (pittas); and endemic reptilian families, Chamaeleontidae (Old World chameleons).

Afrotropical region

The line between the Afrotropical, or Ethiopian, region and the Holarctic is generally drawn somewhere across the Sahara desert (). A radical reanalysis of mammal distributions by Charles H. Smith, however, has concluded that the Mediterranean region, including both its southern and northern shores, is actually much more Paleotropical than Holarctic in aspect (System of faunal regions based on a reanalysis of mammalian distributions by Charles H. Smith.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; compare ). Strictly speaking, the term Afro-Tethyan (in reference to the Tethys Sea; see above The effects of geologic changes on biotic distributions) would apply to this expanded concept.

In striking contrast to the plant life in the southern tip of Africa, which makes up the South African, or Capensic, kingdom, the fauna of the Cape region cannot be distinguished from that of the surrounding regions. Presumably any unique faunal Capensic element that may have existed at one time has merged with the tropical element. African mainland endemic taxa include the mammalian orders Hyracoidea (hyraxes), Tubulidentata (aardvarks), and Macroscelidea (elephant shrews); the mammalian families Chrysochloridae (golden moles), Pedetidae (springhares), Thryonomyidae (cane rats), and Giraffidae (giraffes and okapi); the bird families Struthionidae (ostriches), Balaenicipitidae (shoebills), and Sagittaridae (secretary birds); the frog subfamily Phrynomerinae; the freshwater fish subclass Palaeopterygii (bichirs), and families Mormyridae (snoutfish) and Malapteruridae (electric catfish); and the snail family Aillyidae.

Madagascan region

Madagascar is so different from the continent of Africa that it is generally given equal status as a separate region (). Mammalian families shared with the African mainland (Paleotropical realm) include Tenrecidae (tenrecs and otter shrews) and Hippopotamidae (hippopotamuses, which have recently become extinct in Madagascar). Madagascar also shares some groups with the Neotropical realm, notably iguanas and boas, which the rest of the Paleotropical realm presumably lost during the Paleogene and Neogene periods (65.5 million to 2.6 million years ago). Madagascan endemics include, among mammals, several families of lemurs. Distinctive subgroups of tenrec insectivores, carnivores, and murid rodents also are endemic, as are the avian family Aepyornithidae (the recently extinct elephant birds) and other subfamilies and families of birds. Familiar African mainland animals, such as monkeys, antelopes, elephants, rhinoceroses, and big cats, are absent.

Seychelles and the Mascarene Islands have distant Madagascan affinities and are generally included in the Madagascan region.

Oriental region

Endemic families in the Oriental, or Sino-Indian, region include, among mammals, the Tupaiidae (tree shrews), Tarsiidae (tarsiers), and Hylobatidae (gibbons); among reptiles, the Lanthanotidae (earless monitor lizards) and Gavialidae (the crocodile-like gharials); and a few bird and invertebrate families.

The three-way boundary between the Oriental and Afrotropical regions and the Holarctic realm is difficult to define; essentially the entire area of Southwest Asia is transitional (). Certain areas within this span, however, are more clear-cut: the Negev and the Red Sea coast of Arabia are predominantly Afrotropical, while Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan show decreasing Afrotropical affinities as well as links to the Holarctic. A distinctive desert fauna, often referred to as Saharo-Sindian, unites the entire region and has been allocated by different authorities to any one of the three regions.

Mammalian specialists such as G.B. Corbet place the approximate boundary between the Oriental region and the Holarctic in central China; however, Banarescu extends what he calls the Sino-Indian region north to include the Tien Shan mountain system, Tibet, and the Huang Ho, based on evidence of freshwater fish and invertebrates.

Much debate has centred around the dividing line between the Oriental region and the Australian (Notogaean) realm. Wallace considered the edge of the continental shelf of Asia (the Sunda Shelf) to form the border of this region, and Wallace’s Line is the demarcation, east of Borneo, Bali, and the Philippines, of the “typical” Oriental fauna (Faunal boundaries in the Indonesian archipelago.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.). The basis for this division is the striking difference between faunas to the east and west of the line. Subsequent debate has continued for generations about the position of this boundary. The northern part of the line was altered by T.H. Huxley to fall to the west of the Philippines (excluding Palawan). Huxley’s line is considered a more appropriate delineation by some zoogeographers (e.g., G.G. Simpson) because the Philippines has a highly idiosyncratic fauna.


The famous zoogeographic transition zone called Wallacea is located in central Indonesia. This zone, usually included in the Paleotropical realm, is bounded to the west by Huxley’s Line (or a variation thereof) and to the east by Lydekker’s Line (), which runs along the border of Australia’s continental shelf (the Sahul Shelf); it includes a mixture of Oriental and Australian fauna. Weber’s Line (), which runs west of the Moluccas, represents the area where the two types of fauna are equally mixed. No comparable floral division is apparent (compare ). Celebes and the Philippines excepting Palawan, which is Oriental, contain somewhat unbalanced faunas. Most of these faunas are generically distinct from their Oriental relatives, although some, such as those of Celebes, include a few Australian elements. Flores, in the Lesser Sundas, has, or had, a very few but distinctive genera, as did Timor. In the Moluccas the faunal affinities are clearly with New Guinea.

Notogaean realm

The Notogaean, or Australian, realm begins east of Lydekker’s Line and extends out into the Pacific Ocean (). It consists of four regions: Australian, Oceanic, New Zealand, and Hawaiian. The faunas of many of the Pacific Islands, however, have as much in common with the Paleotropical fauna as with the Australian fauna proper. Endemic to the region are the monotremes (egg-laying mammals such as the platypus [Ornithorhynchus anatinus]), four of the six orders of marsupials, many families of birds and fish, and some invertebrates. Gondwanan affinities include ratites (flightless birds), lungfish, the reptilian families Chelydae (snake-necked turtles) and the extinct Meiolaniidae (horned tortoises), the frog families Hylidae (tree frogs) and Leptodactylidae, and several invertebrate families.

Australian region

The Australian region proper includes Australia, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands (). Bird orders such as Rheiformes (rheas) and Casuariiformes (cassowaries) and families such as Menuridae (lyrebirds) and Paradisaeidae (birds-of-paradise) are endemic to the region, which is the only part of the Notogaean realm that contains any mammals, except bats. The inclusion of New Guinea in this region is interesting; the New Guinean fauna comprises the rainforest aspect of the Australian fauna. The disparity in the biological affinities of this large island exemplifies perhaps one of the most striking differences between phytogeography and zoogeography. (As mentioned above, the flora of New Guinea is classified as Paleotropical, but the fauna is not included in the comparable faunal realm; see The distribution boundaries of flora and fauna.)

Oceanic region

This region () is poorly defined. It contains some localized endemics, notably the bird family Rhynochetidae (kagu) in New Caledonia. Much of the fauna, especially birds, is of demonstrable Australian affinity.

New Zealand region

The New Zealand region () includes all of New Zealand, excluding aspects of the fauna of the southwest, which shows an Antarctic element. Flightless birds inhabit both New Zealand and Australia, although the order Dinornithiformes (kiwis and moas) is endemic to New Zealand. Other endemic taxa include the snail family Athoracophoridae; New Zealand’s only mammals, the bat family Mystacinidae; Xenicidae (New Zealand wrens); Leiopelmatidae (a primitive family of frogs); and Sphenodontidae (tuatara, a primitive reptile family).

Hawaiian region

The Hawaiian region () consists of Hawaii and boasts a few endemic invertebrate families and one avian family, Drepanididae (Hawaiian honeycreepers).

Neogaean realm

The Neogaean, or Neotropical, realm extends south from the tropical lowlands of Mexico through Central America into South America as far as the temperate and subantarctic zones and includes the West Indies (). Among endemic mammal groups, the Didelphimorphia (an order of marsupials) and several distinctive placental orders, such as the Edentata (and several extinct orders), have been present since the Paleocene (65.5 million to 55.8 million years ago). By the Oligocene (33.9 million to 23 million years ago) the platyrrhines (New World monkeys) and a group of rodents (the Caviomorpha) had entered South America by means that are still not understood. Among birds, two entire orders—the flightless Rheiformes (rheas) and Tinamiformes (tinamous)—and 30 families are endemic. Some fish and invertebrate taxa also are endemic. Many of these endemic taxa are believed to date from Gondwanan times (the Early Cretaceous), when the southern continents formed a single landmass. Evidence for this view is provided by the presence in Africa and Australia of their nearest relatives—e.g., the flightless birds, lungfish, bony fish families such as Cichlidae, and many invertebrates (notably the primitive Onychophora, known as velvet worms).

In the West Indies, which are an impoverished region within Neogaea, distinctive mammals include two endemic insectivore families, Solenodontidae (solenodon, almiqui) and the recently extinct Nesophontidae. The Galapagos Islands have an impoverished fauna ultimately derived from South America.

Antarctic realm

The Antarctic, or Archinotic, realm encompasses the Antarctic continent, subantarctic islands, and elements of southwestern New Zealand. The existence of the realm—or rather of its ghost, because nowhere today does it exist in an umixed state—is justified by the common occurrence in New Zealand and South America of such groups as the Eustheniidae (a family of stoneflies), the crustacean order Stygocaridacea, and certain freshwater snails. It is plausible that the marsupial family Microbiotheriidae, which is confined to Chile and is more closely related to the Australian marsupials than to other South American ones, is a relic of an Antarctic connection.