Download zoogeographical realms

V SEMESTER ZOOLOGY
MODULE VI: ZOOGEOGRAPHICAL REALMS
Sclater (1857) was the first one to give concepts of zoogeography and divided the
continental masses into six Realms based on his studies on the bird fauna under two
Creatio or centres of Creation, namely, Palaeogeana (Old world) and Neogeana (New
world).
Creatio PALAEOGEANA (Old World)
Realms
PALAEARCTIC (Temperate Eurasia)
AETHIOPIAN (West Paleotropic). Africa.
INDIAN (Middle Paleotropic). Tropical Asia.
AUSTRALIAN 9East Paleotropic). Australia, New Guinea, Tasmania.
Creatio NEOGEANA (New World)
Realms
NEARCTIC (North America). Greenland, North America up to Mexico.
NEOTROPICAL (South America). South America south of Mexico.
T.H. Huxley (1868) grouped different regions into 3 divisions as follows:
NEOGEA (Neotropical).
NOTOGEA (Australian).
ARCTOGEA (Rest of the Word).
A.R.Wallace (1876), who is considered father of modern zoogeography agreed with
Sclater’s classification but proposed the name ORIENTAL instead of INDIAN and
AFRICAN instead of ETHIOPIAN regions because the earlier names represented
countries and not the zoogeographical regions.
The widely accepted modern classification of land masses into regions is given below
which is based on Wallace (1876) and Darlington (1957).
1. Realm MEGAGEA
1. Region
PALEARCTIC (Europe, Russia, Mediterranean).
2.
NEARCTIC (North America up to the middle of Mexico).
3.
AFRICAN (=ETHIOPIAN) (Africa south of Sahara).
4.
ORIENTAL (Tropical Asia south of 30o latitude).
2. Realm NEOGEA
5. Region
NEOTROPICAL (South America, tropical Mexico and
Caribbean Islands).
3. Realm NOTOGEA
6. Region
AUSTRALIAN (Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and New
Zealand).
1
PALAEARCTIC
This region includes Europe, Russia up to pacific coast and Mediterranean up to
Sahara. Climate is temperate and polar in the north. Eastern Asia is temperate with
deciduous forests. In northern zone there are grasslands (steppe) and interior portion
is arid.
Mammals. There are 33 families of land mammals. Animals of word-wide distribution
which amounts to one-third of families are rabbits, mice dog family, shrews, squirrels
and cat family.
Animals that are restricted to the Old World include hedge hog, porcupine, civets,
giant panda (Ailuropoda), hyena and pigs.
Four families are shared with Nearctic: beavers, jumping mice, flying squirrels, mole
(Talpa) and four shared with African region.
Endemic mammals: mole rat (Spalacidae) and Camel (Seleviniidae), dormice.
African elements are wild horses, the prezevalski's horse is the only truly wild horse in
the world.
Aves. There are 53 families of birds most of which are migratory. All birds have wide
distribution and are shared with Nearctic, Oriental and African regions, e.g.
pheasants, wrens, finches, warblers, sea birds, geese, birds of prey, cranes, terns,
gulls etc.
Hedge sparrow is restricted to this region.
Reptiles. There is no endemic reptilian family. Lizard, Sinisaurus, and Alligartor
sinensis are endemic in China. There are lizards, snakes, Typhlops and sand boa,
Trionyx and emydine turtles.
Amphibia. There are common newts, crested newt (Triton), Spanish newt and alpine
newt. The colourless Proteus is blind and lives in European caves. There are European
salamanders, Salamandra salamandra and S. atra and a species of giant salamander
(Megalobatrachus) in Japan and China that attains a length of over 5 feet. Anurans
are represented by frogs, toads, tree frogs. Male of the midwife toad (Alytes
obstetricans), which is found in France and Italy carried eggs wrapped around his hind
legs. Amphibians show affinities with Nearctic Region.
Fishes. Fish fauna also shows affinities with Nearctic. There is no endemic fish and
carp is the dominant family. There are carps, salmon, pikes, perches, eels and
Petromyzon that migrates from sea to the rivers to breed and the ammocoete larva,
commonly known as sand sleeper lives in mud for several years in European rivers.
Few species of toothless sturgeons immigrate from sea to the rivers of Japan and
Russia for laying eggs which are harvested to prepare a delicacy called caviar.
The fauna is a mixture of Old World tropics and New World temperate.
2
SUBREGIONS OF PALAEARCTIC
European. Northern and central Europe. Black sea. The fauna hedge hog, shrew, mole
and myogale (a mammal).
Mediterranean. Southern Europe. Arabian, Asia Minor, Afghanistan, Baluchistan and
parts of Russia. Fauna includes civets, hyena, hyrax.
Siberian. Northern Asia north of Himalaya having extreme climatic conditions. Fauna
includes yak, musk deer, mole, freshwater seal (Phoca sibirica) found in Baikal lake.
Manchurian. Mongolia, Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Tibet and northern China. The
fauna contains Tibetan langur (Rhinopithecus), giant panda (Ailuropus), Chinese water
deer (Hydropotes), tufted deer (Elaphodus).
NEARCTIC
This region includes the north American continent up to the middle of Mexico. Climate
is temperate with an arctic edge. There are grasslands in the middle of the continent.
Western part is arid with mountains and coniferous forests.
Mammals. There are 24 families of land mammals.
Endemic mammals include rodents, pocket mice (Heteromyidae), pocket gophers
(Geomyidae) and mountain beavers (Aplodontidae). Pronghorns and Sewellel
(Antilocapridae) are endemic artiodactyls.
Palaearctic elements include beavers, moles (Talpidae), pikas and jumping mice.
Neotropical species that have crossed over to North America are marsupials such as
opossum (Didelphis virginiana), shrew opossum (Lestoros inca); 9-banded armadillo
(Dasypus) and tree porcupine.
There are some mammals of wide ranging distribution, namely, shrews, rabbits,
squirrels, mice, cats, bats, bears, deers and bovids.
Birds. There are 49 families of birds in this region out of which 39 are widely
distributed.
Exclusive birds are: red cardinals, humming birds, tanagers and wild turkeys
(Meleagrididae). Golden plover migrates from Europe.
Reptiles. There are turtles, non-poisonous garter snakes, rattle snakes, geckos,
horned lizards, limbless lizard (Ophisaurus), horned toad (Phrynosoma) and Alligator
mississipiensis. Gila monster (Heloderma) is exclusive to this region.
Amphibia. Urodeles include salamanders, hellbender (Cryptobranchus), neotenic larva
called axolotl, eel-like siren, the Congo eel (Amphiuma) and tiger salamanders,
Ambystoma tigrinum. Newts include Smooth newt, great crested newt, banded newt,
3
alpine newt, Bosca’s newt. There are dusky salamanders, red-backed salamander and
Jordan’s salamander.
Anurans include American Bell toad, Liopelma, North American bull frog and Leopard
frog found in grassy meadows. Rana cascadae and Bufo boreas inhabits Cascade
Mountains of Oregon, USA. The desert spade-foot toad is adapted to the arid climate of
northwestern America. Other toad species are: Oak toad, southwestern toad and the
giant toad which is 20 cm long.
Fishes. There are many carps (Cyprinidae) and perches. Holostei are endemic that
include only two surviving ganoid fishes, one species of bowfin (Amia calva) found in
American lakes and 7 species of garpike (Lepidosteus) found in American rivers. These
fishes possess sharp teeth to seize and gulp prey with extraordinary swiftness.
Paddlefish (Polyodon) occurs in Mississippi river of America and represents
Chondrostei. Another species of paddlefish occurs in China. These fishes have paddlelike snout that carries sensory organs for locating prey by detecting its electrical fields.
Ameiurid catfishes, moon-eyes (Hiodontidae) and bass family with genera Morone and
Upiblema are also endemic.
The fauna of Nearctic Region is rich in reptiles and is a complex of tropical and
temperate animals.
SUBREGIONS OF NEARCTIC
Californian. Narrow strip between Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range. From
Vancouver to British Columbia.
Fauna includes 86 families of vertebrates that include vampire and free-tailed bats.
Rocky Mountains. This includes dry mountainous region east of California.
Fauna contains 107 families of terrestrial vertebrates. There are pronghorns
(Antilocapra), mountain goat (Haplocerus), American bison, prairie dogs (Cynomus) and
Heloderma.
Alleghany. This includes eastern region of USA.
The fauna includes opossum, starnosed mole, vampire bats, turkeys and mud eel
(Siren).
Canadian. This sub region includes Canada, Greenland and Alaska.
The fauna is poor and resembles palaearctic region. There are reindeer, sheep, bisons,
lemmings, polar beer, elk and arctic fox.
4
AFRICAN REGION
This region includes continental Africa south of Sahara desert. This is mainly a
tropical region having evergreen forests and grasslands in the central and eastern
parts. There is desert in the north.
Mammals. There are 38 families of mammals, out of which 12 are exclusive and the
rest are shared with Neotropical and Oriental Regions.
Animals having worldwide distribution include shrews, rabbits, squirrels, cricetid
mice, dogs, mired mice, cats and bovids, antilopes.
The exclusive animals include giraffes, hippopotamus, Aardvark or Cape anteater
belonging to Tubulidentata, rock hyrax (Hyracoidea), golden mole (Chrysochloridae),
elephant shrew, small deer-like water chevrotain, aye-aye, bushbabies and lemurs in
Madagascar. There are 6 endemic families of rodents and 3 of insectivores.
There are no camels, bears and tigers in this region.
Animals shared with Oriental are, lorises, monkeys, apes, pangolins, Cheetah,
elephants and rhinoceroses.
Shared with Palaearctic are dormice, jerboa (Dipodidae), wild horses.
Aves. Bird fauna has affinities with Oriental Region. There are cuckoos, woodpeckers,
hornbill, sunbirds, herons, orioles, birds of prey, storks, parrots, pigeons, fowls, pitta,
guinea fowl, hornbill, swallows and bee-eaters.
There are 6 exclusive families that include ostrich, secretary bird (Secretariidae),
hammer head that feed on frogs and fish, crested touracos (Turacidae), ground
hornbill, mouse birds and helmet shrike. Honey guide feeds on honey bee larvae and
guides honey collecting tribals to bee hives. Two species of oxpeckers, namely, yellow
billed and red billed feed on ticks and other ectoparasites of rhinoceroses. The
crocodile bird dares to enter the mouth of crocodiles to feed on leeches.
Reptiles. Crocodiles and turtles abound and few lizards belong to families Lacertidae
and Agamidae. Iguanid horned lizards are absent. Spiny lizard of family Cordylidae is
restricted to this region. Chameleon also occurs in the Oriental Region. Snakes include
pythons, Typhlops and biting vipers. Crocodiles include, Crocodylus noloticus,
Osteolaemus in West Africa and Osteoblepharon in Congo.
Amphibia. There are no urodeles but frogs and toads abound such as the African
ridged frog and African shovel-nosed frog. Family Hylidae of tree frogs is absent,
replaced by Polypedatidae. The flying frog is the African rhacophorid. Genera Rana
and Bufo are absent. Phrynomerid tree frogs are endemic. Xenopus and aquatic clawed
toads present. Limbless amphibians are present.
Fishes. Lung fishes have two species of Protopterus that live in the rivers and lakes of
tropics. Chondrostei is represented by 10 species of Bichir (Polypterus). Electric eel of
5
family Mormyridae has electric organs in tail. There are cat fishes, carps, characins
and generally the fish fauna is diverse.
Fauna shows overwhelming similarity with the Oriental Region.
SUBREGIONS OF AFRICAN REGION
1. East African. This includes tropical Africa and tropical Arabia. Fauna contains 145
families of vertebrates. There are rhinoceros, zebra, giraffe, cheetah, spotted hyena
and lions.
2. West African. Western Africa up to Congo includes forests. Fauna has 134 families
of vertebrates that include, gorilla, chaimpanzee, monkeys, baboons, flying squirrel.
3. South African. Southern portion of Africa. Fauna contains 133 families of
vertebrates. There are ostriches and secretary birds. Mammals include golden mole,
elephant shrew, jumping mice, aardvark and naked mole rat that leads subterranean
existence.
4. Malagasy. Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and neighbouring islands. Fauna has
86 families out of which 8 are endemic. There are aye-aye, lemurs and common tenrec
(Tenrec ecaudatus). Helmet birds and cuckoo rollers and rough-tailes snakes
(Uropeltidae) are endemic. The flightless bird Dodo which was related to flightless
pigeon became extinct in 1681 due to hunting by man and egg predation by dogs, pigs
and monkeys.
ORIENTAL REGION
This region includes Indian subcontinent, southern China south of 30o latitude,
Malaya, Philippines and Indonesian islands up to Wallace’s Line. There are rain forests
in the east, high mountains in the north and the western part is arid. Along the southwestern coast there is a forested low mountainous belt.
Mammals. There are 30 families of mammals out of which 5 are endemic that include
Cynocephalus (=Galeopithecus), which is called Calugo, a gliding mammal with furred
membrane stretched between fore limb and hind limb. Tree shrews (Tupaiidae) and
arboreal tarsiers (Tarsiidae) of Philippines are restricted primates. Spiny dormouse is
arboreal rodent.
Twenty five percent of the fauna is shared with Africa that includes, old world
monkeys, lorises, apes (Gibbon and Orang-Utan), pangolin or scaly anteater (Manis),
bamboo rat (Rhizomyidae), Elephant (Elephas maximus), Rhinoceros unicornis and a
lion population in Gir forest.
Fauna shared with Palaearctic includes hedge hog, porcupine, civets, Lynx, hyenas,
pigs, bear (Ursus arctos), red panda.
Tapir (Tapirus) found in Sumatra and Borneo is Neotropical element.
There are moles, tapirs, bears and deers which are absent in Africa.
6
Aves. Out of 66 families of birds 53 are eurytopic or widespread. Woodpeckers and
barbets are widespread. There are also peacocks, argus pheasants, cattle egrets
(Bubulcus ibis) and jungle fowl.
Sunbirds, hornbills, parrots and cuckoos and shared with Africa.
Shared with Palaearctic are pheasants.
Exclusive birds are fairy blue bird (Irena puella) which is found in Philippines where it
follows troupes of monkeys to feed on insects disturbed by their movement. There are
4 genera and 14 species of leaf birds.
Whitehead’s trogon (Harpactes whiteheadi) is found in Indonesia and monkey-eating
eagle is endangered species found in the dense forests of Philippines.
Reptiles. There are plenty of lizards, turtles, poisonous snakes, pythons and
crocodiles. Lizards belong to Agamidae and Varanidae and include geckos, skinks,
calotes, draco and chameleon. There are king cobras, common cobras, typhlops,
xenopeltid snakes, uropeltid snakes and sea snakes (Hydophidae).
Crocodiles include Crocodylus porosus, C. palustris, Gavialis gangeticus. Tomistoma is
found in Sumatra and Borneo. Alligator sinensis is found in southern China.
Amphibia. Frogs and toads bound. Caecilians are represented by Ichthyophis and
Gegenophis found in Indo-Malayan region. Tree frogs belong to family Polypedatidae
and Hylidae family is absent. Flying frog, Rhacophorus malabaricus found in Western
Ghats in India. Tailed Amphibia are few and found in northern Indo-china.
Fire-bellied toads are exclusive and extend to Palaearctic range.
Fishes. Fishes are dominated by carps and catfishes (Cypriniformes). Loaches, mullets
and mud-eels are exclusive to this region. One species of the Chondrostean paddlefish
(Polyodon) occurs in Yangtze River of China. Another species of this group occurs in
American rivers.
Fauna shows similarity with the Ethiopian Region because of their proximity and
similar environmental conditions.
SUBREGIONS OF ORIENTAL REGION
1. Indian. Indian subcontinent up to the foot of Himalaya and south up to Mysore.
East and Western Ghats are tropical rain forests. There are rocky hills in the central
part and desert in the north-west.
Fauna is varied. Tibetan Wild Ass found in Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh. Wild Ass
found in Runn of Kutch. Golden Langur (Presbytes geei) found in Assam. Indian
Pangolin (Manis crassicauda) and great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps).
2. Indo-Ceylonese. Sri Lanka and southern parts of India containing Tamil Nadu and
Kerala.
7
Fauna includes lorises and elephants. Slender Loris (Loris tardigradus), slow loris
(Nycticebus caucang), lion-tailed monkey (Macaca silenus) and giant squirrel (Ratufa
macroura).
3. Indo-Chinese. China south of 30o latitude, Burma and Thailand.
Fauna includes panda, gibbons (Hylobates), flying lemur, lynx, bear (Ursus), Chinese
pangolin, red panda, snow leopard (Panthera uncia) and clouded leopard. Red-shanked
douc langur is completely arboreal and endemic to Southeast Asia and Cat Ba Langur
is endemic in Vietnam. There are Indo-Chinese warty pig and Javan warty pig,
Sumatran and Annamite striped rabbits.
Crested Argus pheasant (Rheinardia ocellata) is endemic to Laos and Vietnam and
possesses 70 inches long tail feathers, longest for any bird in the world.
Rhinoceros snake (Rhynchophis boulengeri), the green, arboreal snake and green
pricklenape lizard (Acanthosaura capra) are endemic to Indo-china.
Whipping frog (Polypedates dugritei) also present.
4. Indo-Malayan. Malayan peninsula and islands of Malay Archipelago and Indonesia.
Fauna includes Orang-Utan, proboscis monkey, Malayan badger, Tupaia, gibbons,
flying lemurs, tapirs and broad bills. Rhinoceros sondaicus is the lesser one-horned
rhinoceros which is found in Java and Rhinoceros unicornis is found in India and Tarai
regions of Nepal. Swamp deer (Cervus duvauceli).
NEOTROPICAL
South America, most of Mexico, West Indies, Caribbean islands.
Mostly tropical but the southern part extends into temperate zone. Rain forests on the
western side. Grasslands in the middle in Argentina. Andes mountain on the western
coast.
Mammals. There are 32 families of mammals of which 16 are unique.
Widely distributed animals are shrews, rabbits, squirrels, mice, dogs, bears, cats and
deers.
Camels are represented by two species of Llama: L. vicuna and L. guanaco. Llama and
Alpaca are domesticated breeds of these species. There are three species of tapirs of
which one species also occurs in the Oriental Region.
Monkeys include: spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, howlers, capuchin, marmosets
which belong to families Cebidae and Hapalidae of suborder Platyrrhina.
Endemic mammals include, six-banded armadillo (Euphractus), armadillo (Dasypus),
two-toed
sloth
(Choloepus),
3-toed
sloth
(Bradypus),
3
species
of
anteaters,(Myrmecophaga), 11 endemic families of rodent Caviomorpha and five
8
endemic families of bats that include disc-winged bats, furipterid bats and vampire
bats (Desmodontidae), the last one is also a carrier of rabies.
Marsupials belong to the family Didelphidae (12 genera) that includes common
opossum (Didelphis) and water opossum (Chironectes) and family Coenolestidae (3
genera) includes opossum rat (Ceonolestes). The common opossum has also spread to
the Nearctic Region where it has adapted to varied climatic conditions.
There are no hedgehogs, moles, beavers, hyenas, bovids and horses in this region.
Aves. Almost 50% of the avian fauna is endemic and unique due to which South
America is known as The Bird Continent. Out of 67 families of birds, 25 are endemic to
the region. There are partridge-like tinamous, toucans that carry enormous beaks,
trumpeters, hoatzin, cock of the rock (Rupicola), oil birds and several species of
macaws, such as yellow macaw, Hahn’s macaw, red bellied macaw and red and blue
macaw. Quail is the only member of Galliformes here. Bee hummingbird found in
Cuba measures only 6 cm and is the smallest bird.
Ostriches are represented by Rhea americana.
Common birds include herons, ibis, storks, ducks, hawks, owls, plover, cuckoos.
There is scarcity of song birds.
Reptiles. There are plenty of snakes, iguanid lizards, Crocodilus, Caiman (alligator)
and turtles. Xantusiid lizards are endemic. There are tree boas, anacondas, pit vipers
and coral snakes. Mud turtles (Pelomedusidae) are shared with Africa and snake-neck
turtles, Chelodina (Chelidae) with Australia.
Amphibia. There are hylid tree frogs such as Brazilian tree frog Hyla, Hylodes, Cuban
tree frog, Venezuelan tree frog that deters predators by foul odour and the poisonous
Phyllomedusa found in Amazon. Leptodactylus deposits its eggs in frothy mass in
holes on muddy banks of rivers and ponds and Hyla faber makes crater-like nests.
The Tungara frog is noisy and makes foam nests. Tiny frogs belong to the genera
Phyllobates, Dendrobates and Agalychnis. The yellow frog is the largest and most toxic
and its poison is used by Colombia tribes to poison their blowgun darts. The dart
poison frog is also highly poisonous. The tongue and toothless Surinam toads show
parental care. The small Chilean frog carries eggs in the gular pouch while the
Brazilian tree frog, Hyla goeldii carries eggs on the back. Caecilians are represented by
Typhlonectes. Oedipus is the only tailed amphibian (Urodela) found in South America.
Fishes. There are no carps (Cyprinidae) and other fish fauna is endemic. There is
electric eel (Gymnotidae), cat fishes (Diplomystes, Nematogenys) and characin fish
(Piranhas). Lung fishes are represented by Lepidosiren paradoxa found in Amazon
River.
The fauna of Neotropical Region is rich in endemic families; almost 40 families are
endemic out of 155 families of vertebrates. Other fauna is shared with Nearctic and
other tropics.
9
SUBREGIONS OF NEOTROPICAL
Chilian. Western coast of South America, embracing summits of Andes, Peru and
Bolivia. Fauna includes chinchilla, Llama, oil birds and Rhea.
Brazilian. Tropical forests up to Isthmus of Panama. Also open plains and pasture
lands. Fauna includes New World Monkeys, vampire bats, tree porcupine, sloths,
armadillo, opossum, tapirs, cavia, spiny mice.
Mexican. Mexico and northern lands of isthmus of Panama and rocky mountains.
Fauna includes mud terrapins, tapirs and Plethodontids.
Antilean or West Indies. Caribbean Islands except Tobago and Trinidad. Contains
mountainous and rocky areas covered with forests. Fauna is poor and native
mammals are absent.
AUSTRALIAN
This region includes Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, New Zealand and islands east
of Wallace’s Line. New Guinea is tropical with rain forests. Eastern Australia is covered
with lush green forests, Western Australia is desert and there are grasslands in the
middle.
Mammals. Eight of the 9 families of marsupials are unique. There are 52 genera of 6
families of marsupials that are unique and are not found in the Neotropical Region.
Marsupials show parallelism with their counterpart placentals in other parts of the
world in their evolutionary modifications.
Placental mammals that were introduced by man or some of them immigrated
themselves include rodents and bats, rabbits, foxes, rats, mice, dingo dogs, cats, pigs
and murid mice.
Monotremes are represented by Ornythorhynchus and Echidna.
Birds. There are 58 families of birds out of which 44 are widely distributed. Species
having wide range are trogons (Harpactes), hawks, kingfisher, cuckoos, parrots and
pigeons.
Shared with Oriental are frogmouths, wood-swallows, flowerpeckers and megapods.
There are 10 families of endemic birds which include cassowary, emu, kiwi, lyrebird,
bower birds, honey suckers, birds of paradise, magapods and cookabura or laughing
jackass that feeds on lizards and snakes.
Birds not present are pheasants, finches, barbets and woodpeckers.
Reptiles. There are pythons, biting snakes, elepid coral snakes, geckos, skinks,
agamid lizards, scale-footed lizard (Pygopus) and Komodo Dragon (Varanidae),
crocodiles and turtles. Chelyd turtles and snake-necked turtles (Chelodina) possess
strikingly long necks. Sphenodon pounctatus is found exclusively in New Zealand.
10
Amphibia. There are no tailed amphibians. Common toads are absent and frogs are
few. Tree frogs belong to family Hylidae which is also found in the New World and
Palaearctic but absent in African and Oriental Regions. The Australian Green Tree
Frog secretes mosquito repellent compound from the skin glands. The Australian
frogs, Rheobatrachus silus and R. vitellinus carry tadpoles in their stomachs. Some
species of frogs are adapted to live in deserts, e.g. Notaden, Neobatrachus and
Helioporus.
Fishes. Fresh water fishes are rare and belong to family Osteoglossidae. Lung fish
(Neoceratodus) is restricted to Burnett and Mary rivers in Queensland.
Fauna of this region is poor in freshwater fishes, Amphibia and reptiles. There is
uniqueness of mammals and affinities exist with the Oriental and South American
faunas.
SUBREGIONS OF AUSTRALIAN
1. Australo-Malayan. Malayan Archipelago, Moluccas, Solomon Islands, New Guinea.
Fauna includes 130 families of vertebrates. Birds are crowned pigeons, birds of
paradise, honey eaters, cuckoos, bover birds, cassowaries. There are fly river turtles,
flying phalangers and tree frogs.
2. Australian. Australia and Tasmania. There are 98 families of vertebrates and the
region is home of monotremes and marsupials. Monotremes include short-nosed
echidna, long-nosed echidna and duck-billed platypus. Marsupials include marsupial
rat kangaroos, Tasmanian devil, koala, the horny possum, marsupial mole and rabbiteared bandicoot. Tasmanian wolf (Thylacinus cynocephalus) became extinct in 1936.
There are scrub birds, lyre birds, emus and plenty of cobras. Tailed amphibians are
absent.
3. Polynesian. Polynesia and the adjoining islands. Fauna is poor containing only 53
families. Tooth-billed pigeon is unique.
4. New Zealand. New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Auckland and Campbell Island. Fauna
includes murid bats, owl parrots, nester parrots, kiwi, Sphenodon and frog (Liopelma).
Flightless owl parrot or Kakapo feeds on leaves, shoots, berries, fruits and moss. The
only carnivorous parrot called KEA was a vegetarian earlier but after introduction of
sheep in New Zealand has learnt to cut sheep skin and feed on flesh.
Giant Moa (Dinornis maximus) that reached a height of 3 metres contained 22 species
in New Zealand which became extinct all by 1600 AD.
11