Biogeografía de América Latina y el Caribe

A new biogeographic scheme for Latin America and the Caribbean is proposed. The three regions, eight subregions, and 70 provinces are detailed, as well as the taxa that characterize them, the predominant vegetation, their possible relationships and their status of conservation. The Nearctic region is basically situated in the cold-temperate areas of North America, in Canada, the U.S.A., and northern Mexico. It is comprised of five provinces: California (northern portion of the Baja California peninsula), Baja California (peninsula of Baja California), Sonora (coastal areas of northeastern Mexico, from the northeastern portion of the Baja California peninsula to the Piaxtla river basin in the south), Mexican Plateau (central Mexico, between the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre Oriental, in the states of Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, Guanajuato, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Michoacan, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Coahuila, Durango, and Nuevo Mexico, as well as small portions of Nuevo Leon and Sonora), and Tamaulipas (coastal areas of the northern part of the Mexican Gulf, north of the Panuco river basin). The Neotropical region lies basically in the tropics of the Americas, from northern Mexico to central Argentina; it is comprised of four subregions. The Caribbean subregion is the most septentrional, limiting to the north with the Nearctic region; it extends in central and southern Mexico, Mesoamerica, the Western Indies, and northwestern South America, in Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Trinidad and Tobago. It is comprised of 29 provinces: Sierra Madre Occidental (western Mexico, in the states of Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, and Jalisco), Sierra Madre Oriental (eastern Mexico, in the states of San Luis Potosi, Coahuila, Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon, Veracruz, Puebla, and Queretaro), Transmexican Volcanic Belt (central Mexico, in the states of Guanajuato, Mexico, Distrito Federal, Jalisco, Michoacan, Puebla, Oaxaca, Tlaxcala, and Veracruz), Balsas Basin (central Mexico, in the states of Guerrero, Mexico, Jalisco, Michoacan, Morelos, Oaxaca, and Puebla, between the Transmexican Volcanic Belt and Sierra Madre del Sur provinces), Sierra Madre del Sur (central southern Mexico, from southern Michoacan to Guerrero and Oaxaca, as well as part of Puebla), Mexican Pacific Coast (narrow belt in the Pacific coast of Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala), Mexican Gulf (coast of the Mexican Gulf, in eastern Mexico, Belize, and northern Guatemala), Yucatan Peninsula (Yucatan peninsula, in the Mexican states of Campeche, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo), Chiapas (southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua), Eastern Central America (eastern Central America, from Guatemala to Panama), Western Panamanian Isthmus (western Central America, from Costa Rica to western Panama), Bahama (archipelago of the Bahamas, comprising the islands of Abaco-Grand Bahama, Andros-Bimini, Cat, Crooked-Mayaguana, Exumas, Inaguas, Long-Ragged Island Range, Mona, New ProvidenceEleutheras, San Salvador-Rum Cay, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Martin, St. Vincent, and Turks and Caicos), Cuba (island of Cuba), Cayman islands (archipelago including the islands of Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac), Jamaica (island of Jamaica), Hispaniola (island of Hispaniola), Puerto Rico (island of Puerto Rico), Lesser Antilles (archipelagos of the Lesser Antilles and Virgin islands), Choco (pacific coast of northern Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama), Maracaibo (northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela), Venezuelan Coast (northern Venezuela and Colombia, including also the islands of Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire), Trinidad and Tobago (islands of Trinidad and Tobago), Magdalena (western Venezuela and northeastern Colombia), Venezuelan Llanos (great part of Venezuela and northeastern Colombia), Cauca (western Colombia and Ecuador), Galapagos Islands (archipelago of Colon, in the Pacific Ocean, 950 km west of the Ecuadorian coast, that comprises 15 large islands and several islets), Western Ecuador (western Ecuador and southeastern Colombia), Arid Ecuador (western Ecuador), and Tumbes-Piura (southern Ecuador and northern Peru). The Amazonian subregion is the largest of the Neotropical region, extending in most of Brazil and the Guianas, and part of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina. It is