^^fT:: 



FIG. 20-1 Zoologic 



rid. Adapted fi 



No. 201 HA, Goode Base Map Seri 



spyrlght by the Un 



My of Chicago. 



Zoological realms 

 Xotogaea 



Neogaea 



Arctogaea (Megagaea) 



Regions General location 



Australo-Papuan Australia, New Guinea (Papua), New Zealand, and 



neighboring islands 



Neotropical South and Central America, West Indies 



Ethiopian Africa, Madagascar 



Oriental Tropical Asia, with associated continental islands 



Holarctic Eurasia and North America 



from each other at different times in the geological 

 past and hence are not entirely equivalent in point 

 of fauna! distinctiveness. Australia has been sepa- 

 rated from Eurasia for a very long time. Australia 

 lacks a rich fauna, but that which it has is very dis- 

 tinctive, in recognition of which it and neighboring 

 islands are delineated as the Notogaeic (meaning 

 Southland) realm. South America has for long been 

 far distant from Eurasia, where evolution of modern 

 orders and families has proceeded most rapidly, and 

 was long isolated from North America. Its fauna is 

 unique, and it has therefore been given the name of 

 Neogaeic {mtanmg neiv land) realm. The Ethiopian, 

 Oriental, and Holarctic regions do not individually 

 have such marked distinctiveness from each other as 

 do the Australian and the Neotropical regions. Hence 

 they are grouped into the Arctogaeic (meaning 

 Northland) realm. We must now look at the char- 

 acteristics of these realms and regions in more detail 

 (Newbigin 1950, Beaufort 1951, Darlington 1957). 



Australo-Papuan region 



The Notogaeic realm and Australo-Papuan re- 

 gion may be subdivided into the Australo-Papuan, 

 New Zealand, and Oceanic Islands sub-regions. 

 (Some students raise these sub-regions to the rank 

 of regions because there are in fact important differ- 

 ences between them.) Included in the Australo- 

 Papuan sub-region are Australia, Tasmania, New 

 Guinea and the nearby Aru Islands, the Bismarck 

 Archipelago, and the Solomon Islands. These areas, 

 except for the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solo- 

 mon Islands which lie close and to the east, were 

 united by dry land bridges in times past, for they are 

 situated on the same continental shelf. New Zealand 

 and the Oceanic Islands of the South Pacific are dis- 

 tant ; the latter, at least, were always isolated. The 

 fauna of the Polynesian Islands is certainly derived 

 from New Guinea. It is a matter of controversy 

 whether an actual land connection ever existed be- 



Distnbutional units 269 



