faunal region

faunal region

also called  Zoogeographic Region,  

      any of six or seven areas of the world defined by animal geographers on the basis of their distinctive animal life. These regions differ only slightly from the floristic regions (q.v.) of botanists.

      Each region more or less coincides with a major continental land mass, separated from other regions by oceans, mountain ranges, or deserts. They are: Palaearctic, Ethiopian (Africa south of the Sahara), Oriental, Australian, Nearctic, Neotropical, and Antarctic. The Palaearctic (roughly, Europe, northern Africa, and northern Asia) and the Nearctic (North America and Greenland) are often combined as the Holarctic region inasmuch as considerable interchange of fauna has occurred between them via the land bridge that formerly existed between Siberia and Alaska.

      Some zoogeographers consider the Neotropical (South America and Central America to central Mexico), the Australian, and the Antarctic regions as so different from the others that they elevate them to higher units called realms, equal to the remaining regions combined. Such a scheme presents the following realms: Neogea (Neotropical); Notogea (Australian); Metagea (Holarctic, Oriental, and Ethiopian); and Antarctica.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • faunal region — An area where certain groups of animals are found …   Dictionary of invertebrate zoology

  • faunal region — …   Useful english dictionary

  • region — /ree jeuhn/, n. 1. an extensive, continuous part of a surface, space, or body: a region of the earth. 2. Usually, regions. the vast or indefinite entirety of a space or area, or something compared to one: the regions of the firmament; the regions …   Universalium

  • faunal — fauna ► NOUN ▪ the animals of a particular region, habitat, or geological period. Compare with FLORA(Cf. ↑flora). DERIVATIVES faunal adjective. ORIGIN Latin, from Fauna, a rural goddess and the sister of Faunus (see FAUN(Cf. ↑faun)) …   English terms dictionary

  • Ethiopian region — ▪ faunal region also called  Afrotropical Region,        one of the major land areas of the world defined on the basis of its characteristic animal life. Part of the Paleotropical, or Afro Tethyan, realm, it encompasses Africa south of the Sahara …   Universalium

  • Holarctic region — ▪ faunal region       one of the six major land areas of the world defined on the basis of its characteristic animal life. It encompasses all the nontropical parts of Europe and Asia, Africa north of the Sahara, and North America south to the… …   Universalium

  • region — re•gion [[t]ˈri dʒən[/t]] n. 1) an extensive, continuous part of a surface, space, or body: a region of the earth[/ex] 2) Usu., regions. the vast or indefinite entirety of a space or area, or something compared to one: the regions of the… …   From formal English to slang

  • Australian region — ▪ faunal region       one of the six major land areas of the world defined on the basis of its characteristic animal life. It encompasses Australia and the outlying islands of Tasmania, New Guinea, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Melanesia,… …   Universalium

  • Neotropical region — ▪ faunal region also called  South American region,         one of the six major biogeographic areas of the world defined on the basis of its characteristic animal life. It extends south from the Mexican desert into South America as far as the… …   Universalium

  • region — /ˈridʒən / (say reejuhn) noun 1. any more or less extensive, continuous part of a surface or space. 2. a part of the earth s surface (land or sea) of considerable and usually indefinite extent: tropical regions. 3. a district without respect to… …  

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