Paleotropical Kingdom

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Gallery forest in Guinea

Savanna in Burkina Faso

Acacia erioloba in the Namib Desert

Pandanus utilis

Nepenthes villosa

The Paleotropical Kingdom (Paleotropis) is a floristic kingdom comprising tropical areas of Africa, Asia and Oceania (without Australia), as proposed by Ronald Good and Armen Takhtajan. Its flora is characterized by about 40 endemic plant families, e.g. Nepenthaceae, Musaceae, Pandanaceae, Flagellariaceae. Part of its flora, inherited from the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana or exchanged later (e.g. Piperaceae with pantropical distribution and but few warm temperate representatives), is shared with the Neotropical Kingdom, comprising tropical areas of Central and South America. Moreover, the Paleotropical flora influenced the tropical flora of the Australian Kingdom. The Paleotropical Kingdom is subdivided into five floristic subkingdoms according to Takhtajan (or three, according to Good) and about 13 floristic regions. In this article the floristic subkingdoms and regions are given as delineated by Takhtajan.

[edit] Subdivisions

[edit] African Subkingdom

10 endemic families (incl. Dioncophyllaceae, Pentadiplandraceae, Scytopetalaceae, Medusandraceae, Dirachmaceae, Kirkiaceae), many endemic genera.

1. Guineo-Congolian Province
2. Usambara-Zululand Region
3. Sudano-Zambezian Region (including tropical Asia west of the Gulf of Khambhat)
4. Karoo-Namib Region
5. St. Helena and Ascension Region

[edit] Madagascan Subkingdom

9 endemic families, more than 450 endemic genera, about 80% endemic species. It ceased to be influenced by the African flora in the Cretaceous, but underwent heavy influence of the Indian Region's flora.

1. Madagascan Region

[edit] Indo-Malesian Subkingdom

11 endemic families (incl. Degeneriaceae, Barclayaceae, Mastixiaceae) and many endemic genera

1. Indian Region
2. Indochinese Region
3. Malesian Region
4. Fijian Region

[edit] Polynesian Subkingdom

No endemic families, many endemic genera. The flora is mostly derivative from that of the Indo-Malesian Subkingdom.

1. Polynesian Region
2. Hawaiian Region

[edit] Neocaledonian Subkingdom

Several endemic families (incl. Amborellaceae, Strasburgeriaceae) and more than 130 endemic genera (incl. Exospermum and Zygogynum). The flora is partially shared with the Indo-Malesian Subkingdom and the Australian Kingdom.

1. Neocaledonian Region

[edit] See also

Flora of the Coral Sea Islands

Flora of India

Flora of Indonesia

Flora of the Marquesas Islands

Flora of St Helena