Information AboutIndomalaya |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT INDOMALAYA | |
| ecoregions | |
| tropics | |
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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 , Bali , and Borneo , east of which lies the Wallace Line , the ecozone boundary named after Alfred Russel Wallace which separates Indomalaya from 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 Colugo s (Dermoptera), is Endemic to the ecozone, as are families Tupaiidae ( Treeshrew s) and Hylobatidae ( Gibbon s). 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 ( Leafbird s and Fairy Bluebird s), Megalaimidae and Rhabdornithidae ( Philippine Creeper s). Also characteristic are Pheasant s, Pitta s, Old World Babbler s, and Flowerpecker s. 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 , carrying its Gondwana-derived flora and fauna northward, which included Cichlid fish and the Flowering Plant 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 . Asian rainforest flora, including the dipterocarps, island-hopped across Wallacea to New Guinea, and several Gondwanian plant families, including Podocarp s and Araucaria s, 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 EXTERNAL LINK |
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