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Indomalaya
*** Shopping-Tip: Indomalaya
The '''Indomalaya'''
Ecozone was previously called the '''Oriental region.'''
Image:Indomalaya.png thumb|The Indomalaya Ecozone
It extends from the
Makran region of southern
Pakistan through the
Indian subcontinent and
Southeast Asia to lowland southern
China, and through
Indonesia as far as
Java (island) Java,
Bali, and
Borneo, east of which lies the
Wallace line, the ecozone boundary named after
Alfred Russel Wallace which separates Indomalaya from
Australasia ecozone Australasia. Indomalaya also includes the
Philippines, lowland
Taiwan and
Japan's
Ryukyu Islands.
Most of Indomalaya was originally covered by forest, mostly
tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, with
tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests predominant in much of India and parts of Southeast Asia. The tropical moist forests of Indomalaya are dominated by trees of the
dipterocarp family (Dipterocarpaceae).
Malesia is a botanical province which straddles the boundary between Indomalaya and Australasia. It includes the
Malay Peninsula and the western Indonesian islands (known as
Sundaland), the Philippines, the eastern Indonesian islands, and New Guinea. While the region has much in common botanically, they differ greatly in land animal species; Sundaland shares its fauna with mainland Asia, while the islands east of the Wallace line either lack land mammals, or are home to a land fauna derived from Australia, which includes
marsupial mammals and
ratite birds.
One order of mammals, the
colugos (Dermoptera), is
endemic (ecology) endemic to the ecozone, as are families Tupaiidae (
treeshrews) and Hylobatidae (
gibbons). Large mammals characteristic of Indomalaya include the
leopard,
tiger,
water buffalo,
Indian elephant,
Indian Rhinoceros,
Javan Rhinoceros,
Malayan Tapir,
orangutan,
gibbon, and
tarsier.
Indomalaya has three endemic bird families, the Irenidae (
leafbirds and
fairy bluebirds),
Megalaimidae and Rhabdornithidae (
Philippine creepers). Also characteristic are
pheasants,
Pitta (bird) pittas,
Old World babblers, and
flowerpeckers.
The flora of Indomalaya blends elements from the ancient supercontinents of
Laurasia and
Gondwana. Gondwanian elements were first introduced by India, which detached from Gondwana approximately 90
mya (unit) MYA, carrying its Gondwana-derived flora and fauna northward, which included
cichlid fish and the
flowering plant family (biology) families Crypteroniaceae and possibly Dipterocarpaceae. India collided with Asia 30-45 MYA, and exchanged species. Later, as
Australia-New Guinea drifted north, the collision of the Australian and Asian plates pushed up the islands of
Wallacea, which were separated from one another by narrow straits, allowing a botanic exchange between Indomalaya and
Australasia ecozone Australasia. Asian rainforest flora, including the dipterocarps, island-hopped across Wallacea to New Guinea, and several Gondwanian plant families, including
podocarps and
araucarias, moved westward from Australia-New Guinea into western Malesia and Southeast Asia.
See also:
:
List of Indomalaya ecoregions
:
Malesia
:
Sundaland
:
Ecoregions of India
:
Ecoregions of the Philippines
Indomalaya Terrestrial Ecoregions
{{Template:Indomalaya tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests}}
{{Template:Indomalaya tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests}}
{{Template:Indomalaya tropical and subtropical coniferous forests}}
{{Template:Indomalaya temperate broadleaf and mixed forests}}
{{Template:Indomalaya temperate coniferous forests}}
{{Template:Indomalaya tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands}}
{{Template:Indomalaya flooded grasslands and savannas}}
{{Template:Indomalaya montane grasslands and shrublands}}
{{Template:Indomalaya deserts and xeric shrublands}}
{{Template:Indomalaya mangrove}}
{{Terrestrial_biomes}}
{{Ecozones}}
External link
-
Map of the ecozones
Category:Biogeography
Category:Ecozones
fr:Indomalais
nl:Oriëntaals gebied
ja:�洋区
pl:Kraina orientalna
zh:东洋界
Main Article:
Indomalaya
Category: Ecoregions
*** Shopping-Tip: Indomalaya
