Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 6.3
Biogeographic provinces of Latin America and the Caribbean. 1, California; 2,
Baja California; 3, Sonora; 4, Mexican Plateau; 5, Tamaulipas; 6, Sierra Madre Occidental;
7, Sierra Madre Oriental; 8, Transmexican Volcanic Belt; 9, Balsas Basin; 10, Sierra Madre
del Sur; 11, Mexican Pacific Coast; 12, Mexican Gulf; 13, Yucatan Peninsula; 14, Chiapas;
15, Eastern Central America; 16, Western Panamanian Isthmus; 17, Bahama; 18, Cuba;
19, Cayman Islands; 20, Jamaica; 21, Hispaniola; 22, Puerto Rico; 23, Lesser Antilles; 24,
Chocó; 25, Maracaibo; 26, Venezuelan Coast; 27, Trinidad and Tobago; 28, Magdalena;
29, Venezuelan Llanos; 30, Cauca; 31, Galápagos Islands; 32, Western Ecuador; 33, Arid
Ecuador; 34, Tumbes-Piura; 35, Napo; 36, Imeri; 37, Guyana; 38, Humid Guyana; 39, Ro-
raima; 40, Amapa; 41, Varzea; 42, Ucayali; 43, Madeira; 44, Tapajos-Xingu; 45, Para; 46,
Pantanal; 47, Yungas; 48, Caatinga; 49, Cerrado; 50, Chaco; 51, Pampa; 52, Monte; 53,
Brazilian Atlantic Forest; 54, Parana Forest; 55;
Araucaria angustifolia
Forest; 56, North
Andean Paramo; 57, Coastal Peruvian Desert; 58, Puna; 59, Atacama; 60, Prepuna; 61,
Coquimbo; 62, Santiago; 63, Juan Fernandez Islands; 64, Maule; 65, Valdivian Forest; 66,
Magellanic Forest; 67, Magellanic Paramo; 68, Falkland Islands; 69, Central Patagonia; 70,
Subandean Patagonia.
The Neotropical region corresponds to the tropics of the New World, in most
of South America, Central America, southern Mexico, the West Indies, and south-
ern Florida. It does not include the Andean portion of South America, which is as-
signed to the Andean region and the South American Transition Zone. In pre-Qua-
ternary times, the South American Neotropical biota expanded north, to Central
America and Mexico, and south, to the Andean region.
The Caribbean subregion extends through southern Mexico, Central America,
the Antilles, and northwestern South America. It has an extremely complex geo-
biotic history, which is reflected in its multiple relationships with other areas of
the Neotropics, the Nearctic, and the tropics of the Old World. A South Amer-
ican-Caribbean generalized track (Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles, and South
America) and a North American-Caribbean generalized track (Greater Antilles
and Central America) have been postulated (Rosen 1976). According to cladistic
biogeographic analyses based on animal taxa (Amorim 2001; Amorim and Pires
1996), a PAE based on anurans (Ron 2000), and the phylogenetic analyses of
some insect taxa (Morrone 2002c; Nihei and Carvalho 2004, 2007), the Caribbean
subregionishypothesizedtobethesisterareatotheremainingNeotropicalsubre-
gions. It comprises twenty-four provinces, which are arranged in three dominions:
Mesoamerican, Antillean, and Northwestern South American. The Mesoamerican
dominion, in addition to Central America and the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, ex-
tends to the lowlands of the Mexican Gulf and the coast of the Pacific Ocean; it
includes five provinces: Mexican Pacific Coast, Mexican Gulf, Chiapas, Eastern
Central America, and Western Panamanian Isthmus. The Antillean dominion ex-
tends to areas of the Caribbean Basin and comprises eight provinces: Yucatan
Peninsula, Bahama, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico,
and Lesser Antilles. A cladistic biogeographic analysis based on vertebrate, crus-
