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PALAEOTROPICAL REGION

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 976 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PALAEOTROPICAL REGION .—Muchcanbe said in favour of combining the mostly tropical portion of the See also:

great See also:mass of See also:land of the Old See also:World (excluding, of course, Austrogaea or the Australian region) into one region, for which Oscar Drude's well-chosen See also:term " palaeotropical " has been adopted (cf. See also:Bronn's Thierreich, See also:System See also:Part. p. 296, 1893). This region naturally comprises the See also:African and See also:Indian areas, conformably to be called subregions. Both subregions possess, besides others, the following characteristic birds: See also:Ratitae, viz. Struthio in See also:Africa and See also:Arabia, fossil also in the Sivalik Hills, and Aepyornithidae in See also:Madagascar; Pittidae, Bucerotinae and Upupinae, of which Upupa itself in See also:India, Madagascar and Africa; Coraciidae; Pycnonotidae or bulbuls; Trogonidae, of which the See also:Asiatic genera are the less specialized in opposition to the Neotropical forms; Vulturidae; Leptoptilus, Anastomus and Ciconia among the storks; Pteroclidae; Treroninae among pigeons. Of other families which, however, extend their range more or less far into the Australian See also:realm, may be mentioned Otididae, the bustards; Meropidae or See also:bee-eaters; Muscicapidae or flycatchers; Sturnidae or starlings. The Ethiopian Subregion comprises the whole of Africa and Madagascar, except the See also:Barbary States, but including Arabia; in the See also:north-See also:east the subregion melts into the Palaearctic between See also:Palestine and the See also:Persian Gulf. Some authors are inclined to extend its limits still farther to the eastwards, through Beluchistan and even beyond the See also:Indus. So large a portion of the Ethiopian subregion lies between the tropics that no surprise need be expressed at the richness of its See also:fauna relatively to that of the last two subregions we have considered. Between fifty and sixty so-called families of land birds alone are found within its limits, and of them at least nine are See also:peculiar; the typical genera of which are Buphaga, Euryceros, Philepitta, Musophaga, Irrisor, Leptosoma, Colius, See also:Serpentarius, Struthio, Aepyornis. It is singular that only the first three of them belong to the See also:order Passeriformes, a proportion which is not maintained in any other tropical region.

The number of peculiar genera, besides those just mentioned, is too great for them to be named here; some of the most remarkable on the See also:

continent are: Balaeniceps, the See also:whale-headed See also:heron; Balaearica, the crowned See also:crane; Podica, finfoot; Numida and allied genera of See also:guinea fowls. The natural See also:division of the subregion is that into an African and a Madagascar See also:province. Subdivision of the See also:continental portion is beset with great difficulties, and none of the numerous attempts have proved See also:long-lived. The See also:forest-clad See also:basin of the See also:Congo, with the coastal districts of the See also:bay of Guinea, seem to See also:form one domain in opposition to the See also:rest. The Malagasy province comprises, besides Madagascar, the Mascarene, See also:Comoro and Seychelle islands. It may be safely deemed the most peculiar See also:area of the See also:earth's See also:surface, while from the richness and multifariousness of its See also:animal, and especially of its ornithic See also:population, New See also:Zealand cannot be compared with it. In A. Grandidier's magnificent Histoire physique, naturelle et Isolitique de Madagascar, vol. xii. (See also:Paris, 1875-1884), are enumerated 238 See also:species as belonging to the See also:island, of which 129 are peculiar to it, and among those are no fewer than 35 peculiar genera. Euryceros of the 976 Oscines, and-Philepitta of the Clamatores, are remarkable enough to form the types of Passeriform families, and Mesites See also:half-way between Galli and Gruiformes is of See also:prime importance. The Passerine Falculia, with its recently extinguished See also:allies Fregilupus and Necropsar of the Mascarenes; the Coraciine Brachypteracias, Atelornis and Geobiastes, are very abundant, while Heliodtilus is an See also:owl belonging to that subfamily which is otherwise represented only by the widely-spread See also:barn owl, Strix flammea. Lastly must be noted the See also:extinct tall Ratite species of Aepyornis with its several See also:fancy genera.

But, as See also:

Newton charmingly puts it (Dict. Birds, p. 353), the avifauna of Madagascar is not entirely composed of such singularities as these. We have homely genera, even among the true Passeres, occurring there—such as Alauda, Acrocephalus, Motacilla and Pratincola, while the Cisticola madagascariensis is only distinguish-able from the well-known See also:fan-tailed See also:warbler, C. schoenicola of See also:Europe, Africa and India by its rather darker coloration. But there are also species, though not Passerine, which are absolutely identical with those of See also:Britain, the barn owl, See also:common See also:quail, pigmy See also:rail, and little See also:grebe or dabchick, all of them common and apparently See also:resident in the island. See also:Mauritius had the See also:dodo (q.v.), Lophopsittacus and Aphanapteryx. See also:Rodriguez had the See also:solitaire, Necropsittacus and Necropsar. See also:Bourbon or See also:Reunion had Fregilupus. Some of the Malagasy avifauna is certainly See also:ancient, aboriginal, and even points to India; other forms indicate clearly their African origin; while, lastly, such strikingly characteristic Indo-African birds as hornbills are unaccountably absent. The See also:Oriental Subregion comprises all the countries and numerous islands between the Palaearctic and Australian areas; it possesses upwards of seventy families, of which, however, only one is peculiar, but this See also:family, the Eurylaemidae or broadbills, is of great importance since it represents all the Subclamatores. Of the many characteristic birds may be mentioned Pycnonotidae or bulbuls, of which the Phyllornithinae are peculiar, Campephagidae or See also:cuckoo-shrikes, Dicruridae or drongos, Nectariniidae or sunbirds; pheasants, together with Pavo and See also:Gallus. Some of the similarities to the Ethiopian and the great See also:differences from the Australian avifauna have already been pointed out.

Naturally no See also:

line whatever can be See also:drawn between the Oriental and the Palaearctic subregions, and many otherwise essentially Indo-Malayan families extend far into the Australian realm, far across See also:Wallace's line, whilst the See also:reverse takes See also:place to a much more moderate extent. Certainly the Oriental area, in spite of its considerable See also:size, cannot possibly claim the See also:standing of a See also:primary region. It is a continuation of the great Arctogaea into the tropics. Following H. J. Elwes we subdivide the whole subregion into a Himalo-See also:Chinese, Indian and Malayan province. These divisions had the approval of W. T. See also:Blanford, who proposed the terms Cis-and TransganFetic for the two first. The Himalo-Chinese or Transgangetic province shows the characteristics of its avifauna also far away to the eastward in See also:Formosa, See also:Hainan and See also:Cochin See also:China, and again in a lesser degree to the southward in the mountains of Malacca and See also:Sumatra. Indo-China is especially See also:rich in Eurylaemidae, China proper and the Himalayas in pheasants.[See also:CLASSIFICATION The Indian or Cisgangetic province is the least rich of the three so far as peculiar genera are concerned. The Malayan province comprising the See also:Malay islands, besides the Malay See also:peninsula, and the very remarkable Philippines, possess an extraordinary number of peculiar and interesting genera.

The See also:

influence of the Australian realm is indicated by a See also:Megapode in See also:Celebes, another in See also:Borneo and See also:Labuan, and a third in the Nicobar islands (which, however, like the Andamans, belong to the Indian province), but there are no cockatoos, these keeping strictly to the other See also:side of Wallace's line, whence we started on this survey of the world's avifauna. D. CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS Furbringer's great See also:work, published in the See also:year 1888 by the Natura Artis Magistra Society of See also:Amsterdam, enabled Gadow not only to continue for the next five years the same lines of morphological See also:research, but also further to investigate those questions which were still See also:left in See also:abeyance or seemed to require renewed study. The resulting " classification is based on the examination, mostly autoptic, of a far greater number of characters than any that had preceded it; moreover, they were chosen in a different way, discernment being exercised in sifting and weighing them, so as to determine, so far as possible, the relative value of each, according as that value may vary in different See also:groups, and not to produce a See also:mere See also:mechanical ` See also:key ' after the See also:fashion become of See also:late years so common " (Newton's See also:Dictionary of Birds, Introduction, p. 103). It is not the quantity but the quality of the anatomical and bionomic characters which determines their taxonomic value, and a few fundamental characters are better indications of the See also:affinities of given groups of birds than a great number of agreements if these can be shown to be cases of isomorphism or heterophyletic, convergent See also:analogy. Nature possesses three great educational or develop-See also:mental See also:schools—terrestrial, aquatic and aerial See also:life. Each of these affords animal, See also:vegetable or mixed See also:diet. Animal diet implies the greatest variety with regard to locality and the modes of procuring the See also:food. Each of these schools impresses its pupils, in the See also:case of the birds, with its own See also:stamp, but there are many combinations, since in the course of phyletic development many a See also:group of birds has exchanged one school for another. Origin-ally terrestrial groups have taken to an entirely aquatic life, and See also:vice versa; others, originally endowed with the See also:power of See also:flight, have become, or are transforming themselves into, absolutely See also:cursorial forms; some members of one group live entirely on seeds, while others have become fierce fishers, and so forth. Only by the most careful inquiry into their See also:history can their relationship or See also:pedigree be unravelled.

A statement may now be given of Gadow's classification of birds, in which the extinct forms have been intercalated so far as possible.

End of Article: PALAEOTROPICAL REGION

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