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Wallace line
*** Shopping-Tip: Wallace line
image:Línea de Wallace.jpg thumb|300px|Wallace's hypothetical line between Australasian and Southeast Asian fauna.
The '''Wallace Line''' is a hypothetical boundary which separates the
Ecozone zoogeographical regions of
Asia and
Australasia. West of the line are found organisms related to Asiatic species; to the east, mostly organisms related to Australian species. The Line is named after
Alfred Russel Wallace, who noticed the apparent dividing line during his travels through the
East Indies in the
19th Century. The line runs through the
Malay Archipelago, between
Borneo and
Celebes; and between
Bali (in the west) and
Lombok (in the east). Evidence of the Line was also noted in
Antonio Pigafetta Antonio Pigafetta's biological contrasts between the
Philippines and the
Spice Islands, recorded during the voyage of
Ferdinand Magellan in
1521.
The distance between Bali and Lombok is small, a matter of only about 35 kilometers. The distributions of many
bird species observe the line, as many birds refuse to cross even the smallest stretches of open water. Arboreal mammals like
bat and
flying foxes have crossed the Wallace Line, but other terrestrial crossings are limited to rafting
rats and
shrews, and
macaques. Exceptions are the dwarfed endemic
Bubalus buffalo and
babirusa of
Celebes.
References
*Penny van Oosterzee, ''Where Worlds Collide: the Wallace Line,'' 1997
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Wallacea and More Lines
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Plate Tectonics and the Creation of Wallace's Line
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Pleistocene Sea Level Maps
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Wallacea - a transition zone from Asia to Australia, specially rich in marine life and on land.
See also
*
Australia-New Guinea
*
Wallacea
category:Biogeography
de:Wallace-Linie
es:Línea de Wallace
id:Garis Wallace
hu:Wallace-vonal
ja:ウォレス線
pl:Linia Wallace'a
sv:Wallacelinjen
see
Wallace Line
*** Shopping-Tip: Wallace line
