# Neotropical realm

The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone.

## Definition

In biogeography, the Neotropic or Neotropical realm is one of the eight terrestrial realms. This realm includes South America, Central America, the Caribbean Islands, and southern North America. In Mexico, the Yucatán Peninsula and southern lowlands, and most of the east and west coastlines, including the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula are Neotropical. In the United States southern Florida and coastal Central Florida are considered Neotropical.
The realm also includes temperate southern South America. In contrast, the Neotropical Floristic Kingdom excludes southernmost South America, which instead is placed in the Antarctic kingdom.
The Neotropic is delimited by similarities in fauna or flora. Its fauna and flora are distinct from the Nearctic realm (which includes most of North America) because of the long separation of the two continents. The formation of the Isthmus of Panama joined the two continents two to three million years ago, precipitating the Great American Interchange, an important biogeographical event.
The Neotropic includes more tropical rainforest (tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests) than any other realm, extending from southern Mexico through Central America and northern South America to southern Brazil, including the vast Amazon rainforest. These rainforest ecoregions are one of the most important reserves of biodiversity on Earth. These rainforests are also home to a diverse array of indigenous peoples, who to varying degrees persist in their autonomous and traditional cultures and subsistence within this environment. The number of these peoples who are as yet relatively untouched by external influences continues to decline significantly, however, along with the near-exponential expansion of urbanization, roads, pastoralism and forest industries which encroach on their customary lands and environment. Nevertheless, amidst these declining circumstances this vast "reservoir" of human diversity continues to survive, albeit much depleted. In South America alone, some 350–400 indigenous languages and dialects are still living (down from an estimated 1,500 at the time of first European contact), in about 37 distinct language families and a further number of unclassified and isolate languages. Many of these languages and their cultures are also endangered. Accordingly, conservation in the Neotropical realm is a hot political concern, and raises many arguments about development versus indigenous versus ecological rights and access to or ownership of natural resources.

## Major ecological regions

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) subdivides the realm into bioregions, defined as "geographic clusters of ecoregions that may span several habitat types, but have strong biogeographic affinities, particularly at taxonomic levels higher than the species level (genus, family)."
Laurel forest and other cloud forest are subtropical and mild temperate forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. Tropical rainforest, tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests are highlight in Southern North America, Amazonia, Caribbean, Central America, Northern Andes and Central Andes.

### Amazonia

The Amazonia bioregion is mostly covered by tropical moist broadleaf forest, including the vast Amazon rainforest, which stretches from the Andes Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, and the lowland forests of the Guianas. The bioregion also includes tropical savanna and tropical dry forest ecoregions.

### Central Andes

The Central Andes lie between the gulfs of Guayaquil and Penas and thus encompass southern Ecuador, Chile, Peru, western Bolivia, and northwest and western Argentina.

### Eastern South America

Eastern South America includes the Caatinga xeric shrublands of northeastern Brazil, the broad Cerrado grasslands and savannas of the Brazilian Plateau, and the Pantanal and Chaco grasslands. The diverse Atlantic forests of eastern Brazil are separated from the forests of Amazonia by the Caatinga and Cerrado, and are home to a distinct flora and fauna.

### Northern Andes

North of the Gulf of Guayaquil in Ecuador and Colombia, a series of accreted oceanic terranes (discrete allochthonous fragments) have developed that constitute the Baudo, or Coastal, Mountains and the Cordillera Occidental.

### Orinoco

The Orinoco is a region of humid forested broadleaf forest and wetland primarily comprising the drainage basin for the Orinoco River and other adjacent lowland forested areas. This region includes most of Venezuela and parts of Colombia, as well as Trinidad and Tobago.

### Southern South America

The temperate forest ecoregions of southwestern South America, including the temperate rain forests of the Valdivian temperate rain forests and Magellanic subpolar forests ecoregions, and the Juan Fernández Islands and Desventuradas Islands, are a refuge for the ancient Antarctic flora, which includes trees like the southern beech (Nothofagus), podocarps, the alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides), and Araucaria pines like the monkey-puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana). These rainforests are endangered by extensive logging and their replacement by fast-growing non-native pines and eucalyptus.

## History

South America was originally part of the supercontinent of Gondwana, which included Africa, Australia, India, New Zealand, and Antarctica, and the Neotropic shares many plant and animal lineages with these other continents, including marsupial mammals and the Antarctic flora.
After the final breakup of the Gondwana about 110 million years ago, South America was separated from Africa and drifted north and west. 66 million years ago, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event altered local flora and fauna. Much later, about two to three million years ago, South America was joined with North America by the formation of the Isthmus of Panama, which allowed a biotic exchange between the two continents, the Great American Interchange. South American species like the ancestors of the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) and the armadillo moved into North America, and North Americans like the ancestors of South America's camelids, including the llama (Lama glama), moved south. The long-term effect of the exchange was the extinction of many South American species, mostly by outcompetition by northern species.

## Endemic animals and plants
### Animals

The Neotropical realm has 31 endemic bird families, which is over twice the number of any other realm. They include tanagers, rheas, tinamous, curassows, antbirds, ovenbirds, toucans, and seriemas. Bird families originally unique to the Neotropics include hummingbirds (family Trochilidae) and wrens (family Troglodytidae).
Mammal groups originally unique to the Neotropics include:
* Order Xenarthra: anteaters, sloths, and armadillos
* New World monkeys
* Solenodontidae, the solenodons
* Caviomorpha rodents, including capybaras, guinea pigs, hutias, and chinchillas
* American opossums (order Didelphimorphia) and shrew opossums (order Paucituberculata)
The Neotropical realm has 63 endemic fish families and subfamilies, which is more than any other realm. Neotropical fishes include more than 5,700 species, and represent at least 66 distinct lineages in continental freshwaters (Albert and Reis, 2011). The well-known red-bellied piranha is endemic to the Neotropic realm, occupying a larger geographic area than any other piranha species. Some fish groups originally unique to the Neotropics include:
* Order Gymnotiformes: Neotropical electric fishes
* Family Characidae: tetras and allies
* Family Loricariidae: armoured catfishes
* Subfamily Cichlinae: Neotropical cichlids
* Subfamily Poeciliinae: guppies and relatives
Examples of other animal groups that are entirely or mainly restricted to the Neotropical region include:
* Caimans
* New World coral snakes
* Poison dart frogs
* Dactyloidae ("anoles")
* Rock iguanas (Cyclura)
* Preponini and Anaeini butterflies (including Agrias)
* Brassolini and Morphini butterflies (including Caligo and Morpho)
* Callicorini butterflies
* Heliconiini butterflies
* Ithomiini butterflies
* Riodininae butterflies
* Eumaeini butterflies
* Firetips or firetail skipper butterflies
* Euglossini bees
* Augochlorini bees
* Pseudostigmatidae ("giant damselflies")
* Mantoididae (short-bodied mantises)
* Canopidae, Megarididae, and Phloeidae (pentatomoid bugs)
* Aetalionidae and Melizoderidae (treehoppers)
* Gonyleptidae (harvestmen)

### Plants

According to Simberloff. as of 1984 there were a total of 92,128 species of flowering plants (Angiosperms) in the Neotropics. Plant families endemic and partly subendemic to the realm are, according to Takhtajan (1978), Hymenophyllopsidaceae, Marcgraviaceae, Caryocaraceae, Pellicieraceae, Quiinaceae, Peridiscaceae, Bixaceae, Cochlospermaceae, Tovariaceae, Lissocarpaceae (Lissocarpa), Brunelliaceae, Dulongiaceae, Columelliaceae, Julianiaceae, Picrodendraceae, Goupiaceae, Desfontainiaceae, Plocospermataceae, Tropaeolaceae, Dialypetalanthaceae (Dialypetalanthus), Nolanaceae (Nolana), Calyceraceae, Heliconiaceae, Cannaceae, Thurniaceae and Cyclanthaceae.
Plant families that originated in the Neotropic include Bromeliaceae, Cannaceae and Heliconiaceae.
Plant species with economic importance originally unique to the Neotropic include:
* Potato (Solanum tuberosum)
* Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)
* Cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), source of cocoa and chocolate
* Maize (Zea mays)
* Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis)
* Guava (Psidium guajava)
* Lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus)
* Cotton (Gossypium barbadense)
* Cassava (Manihot esculenta)
* Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)
* Amaranth (Amaranthus caudatus)
* Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa)

## Neotropical terrestrial ecoregions

Neotropical tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregionsvte :
| Alto Paraná Atlantic forests | Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay |
| Araucaria moist forests | Argentina, Brazil |
| Atlantic Coast restingas | Brazil |
| Bahia coastal forests | Brazil |
| Bahia interior forests | Brazil |
| Bolivian Yungas | Bolivia, Peru |
| Caatinga enclaves moist forests | Brazil |
| Caquetá moist forests | Brazil, Colombia |
| Catatumbo moist forests | Venezuela |
| Cauca Valley montane forests | Colombia |
| Cayos Miskitos–San Andrés and Providencia moist forests | Colombia, Nicaragua |
| Central American Atlantic moist forests | Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama |
| Central American montane forests | El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua |
| Chiapas montane forests | Mexico |
| Chimalapas montane forests | Mexico |
| Chocó–Darién moist forests | Colombia, Ecuador, Panama |
| Cocos Island moist forests | Costa Rica |
| Cordillera de la Costa montane forests | Venezuela |
| Cordillera Oriental montane forests | Colombia, Venezuela |
| Costa Rican seasonal moist forests | Costa Rica, Nicaragua |
| Cuban moist forests | Cuba |
| Eastern Cordillera Real montane forests | Colombia, Ecuador, Peru |
| Eastern Panamanian montane forests | Colombia, Panama |
| Fernando de Noronha-Atol das Rocas moist forests | Brazil |
| Guayanan Highlands moist forests | Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela |
| Guianan moist forests | Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela |
| Guianan piedmont and lowland moist forests | Brazil, Venezuela |
| Gurupa várzea | Brazil |
| Hispaniolan moist forests | Dominican Republic, Haiti |
| Iquitos várzea | Bolivia, Brazil, Peru |
| Isthmian–Atlantic moist forests | Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama |
| Isthmian–Pacific moist forests | Costa Rica, Panama |
| Jamaican moist forests | Jamaica |
| Japurá–Solimões–Negro moist forests | Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela |
| Juruá–Purus moist forests | Brazil |
| Leeward Islands moist forests | Antigua, British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Nevis, Saint Kitts, British Virgin Islands |
| Madeira–Tapajós moist forests | Bolivia, Brazil |
| Magdalena Valley montane forests | Colombia |
| Magdalena–Urabá moist forests | Colombia |
| Marajó várzea | Brazil |
| Maranhão Babaçu forests | Brazil |
| Mato Grosso tropical dry forests | Brazil |
| Monte Alegre várzea | Brazil |
| Napo moist forests | Colombia, Ecuador, Peru |
| Negro–Branco moist forests | Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela |
| Northeastern Brazil restingas | Brazil |
| Northwestern Andean montane forests | Colombia, Ecuador |
| Oaxacan montane forests | Mexico |
| Orinoco Delta swamp forests | Guyana, Venezuela |
| Pantanos de Centla | Mexico |
| Paramaribo swamp forests | Guyana, Suriname |
| Pernambuco coastal forests | Brazil |
| Pernambuco interior forests | Brazil |
| Peruvian Yungas | Peru |
| Petén–Veracruz moist forests | Mexico |
| Puerto Rican moist forests | Puerto Rico |
| Purus várzea | Brazil |
| Purus–Madeira moist forests | Brazil |
| Rio Negro campinarana | Brazil, Colombia |
| Santa Marta montane forests | Colombia |
| Serra do Mar coastal forests | Brazil |
| Sierra de los Tuxtlas | Mexico |
| Sierra Madre de Chiapas moist forests | El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico |
| Solimões–Japurá moist forests | Brazil, Colombia, Peru |
| South Florida rocklands | United States |
| Southern Andean Yungas | Argentina, Bolivia |
| Southwest Amazon moist forests | Bolivia, Brazil, Peru |
| Talamancan montane forests | Costa Rica, Panama |
| Tapajós–Xingu moist forests | Brazil |
| Tepuis | Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela |
| Tocantins–Araguaia–Maranhão moist forests | Brazil |
| Trinidad and Tobago moist forests | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Trindade-Martin Vaz Islands tropical forests | Brazil |
| Uatuma–Trombetas moist forests | Brazil, Guyana, Suriname |
| Ucayali moist forests | Peru |
| Venezuelan Andes montane forests | Colombia, Venezuela |
| Veracruz moist forests | Mexico |
| Veracruz montane forests | Mexico |
| Western Ecuador moist forests | Colombia, Ecuador |
| Windward Islands moist forests | Dominica, Grenada, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
| Xingu–Tocantins–Araguaia moist forests | Brazil |
| Yucatán moist forests | Belize, Guatemala, Mexico |
Neotropical tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests ecoregionsvte :
| Apure–Villavicencio dry forests | Venezuela |
| Atlantic dry forests | Brazil |
| Bahamian dry forests | Bahamas |
| Bajío dry forests | Mexico |
| Balsas dry forests | Mexico |
| Bolivian montane dry forests | Bolivia |
| Cauca Valley dry forests | Colombia |
| Cayman Islands dry forests | Cayman Islands |
| Central American dry forests | Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua |
| Gran Chaco | Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia |
| Chiapas Depression dry forests | Guatemala, Mexico |
| Chiquitano dry forests | Bolivia, Brazil |
| Cuban dry forests | Cuba |
| Ecuadorian dry forests | Ecuador |
| Hispaniolan dry forests | Dominican Republic, Haiti |
| Jalisco dry forests | Mexico |
| Jamaican dry forests | Jamaica |
| Lara–Falcón dry forests | Venezuela |
| Lesser Antillean dry forests | Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Montserrat, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
| Magdalena Valley dry forests | Colombia |
| Maracaibo dry forests | Venezuela |
| Marañón dry forests | Peru |
| Panamanian dry forests | Panama |
| Patía Valley dry forests | Colombia |
| Puerto Rican dry forests | Puerto Rico |
| Revillagigedo Islands dry forests | Mexico |
| Sierra de la Laguna dry forests | Mexico |
| Sinaloan dry forests | Mexico |
| Sinu Valley dry forests | Colombia |
| Southern Pacific dry forests | Mexico |
| Trinidad and Tobago dry forests | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Tumbes–Piura dry forests | Ecuador, Peru |
| Veracruz dry forests | Mexico |
| Yucatán dry forests | Mexico |
Neotropical tropical and subtropical coniferous forests ecoregionsvte :
| Bahamian pineyards | The Bahamas |
| Belizian pine forests | Belize |
| Central American pine–oak forests | El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua |
| Cuban pine forests | Cuba |
| Hispaniolan pine forests | Haiti, Dominican Republic |
| Miskito pine forests | Honduras, Nicaragua |
| Sierra de la Laguna pine–oak forests | Mexico |
| Sierra Madre de Oaxaca pine–oak forests | Mexico |
| Sierra Madre del Sur pine–oak forests | Mexico |
| Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine–oak forests | Mexico |
Neotropical temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregionsvte :
| Juan Fernandez Islands temperate forests | Chile |
| Magellanic subpolar forests | Argentina, Chile |
| San Félix–San Ambrosio Islands temperate forests | Chile |
| Valdivian temperate forests | Argentina, Chile |
Neotropical tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregionsvte :
| Beni savanna | Bolivia |
| Campos rupestres | Brazil |
| Cerrado | Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay |
| Clipperton Island shrub and grasslands | Clipperton Island is an overseas territory of France |
| Córdoba montane savanna | Argentina |
| Guianan savanna | Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela |
| Humid Chaco | Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay |
| Llanos | Venezuela, Colombia |
| Uruguayan savanna | Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay |
Neotropical temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregionsvte :
| Argentine Espinal | Argentina |
| Argentine Monte | Argentina |
| Humid Pampas | Argentina, Uruguay |
| Patagonian grasslands | Argentina, Chile, United Kingdom (Falkland Islands) |
| Patagonian steppe | Argentina, Chile, United Kingdom (Falkland Islands) |
| Semi-arid Pampas | Argentina |
Neotropical flooded grasslands and savannas ecoregionsvte :
| Central Mexican wetlands | Mexico |
| Cuban wetlands | Cuba |
| Enriquillo wetlands | Dominican Republic, Haiti |
| Everglades | United States |
| Guayaquil flooded grasslands | Ecuador |
| Orinoco wetlands | Venezuela |
| Pantanal | Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay |
| Paraná flooded savanna | Argentina |
| Southern Cone Mesopotamian savanna | Argentina |
Neotropical montane grasslands and shrublands ecoregionsvte :
| Central Andean dry puna | Argentina, Bolivia, Chile |
| Central Andean puna | Argentina, Bolivia, Peru |
| Central Andean wet puna | Bolivia, Peru |
| Cordillera Central páramo | Ecuador, Peru |
| Cordillera de Merida páramo | Venezuela |
| High Monte | Argentina |
| Northern Andean páramo | Colombia, Ecuador |
| Santa Marta páramo | Colombia |
| Talamanca Paramo | Costa Rica, Panama |
| Southern Andean steppe | Argentina, Chile |
| Zacatonal | Mexico, Guatemala |
Neotropical Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregionsvte :
| Chilean Matorral | Chile |
Neotropical deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregionsvte :
| Araya and Paria xeric scrub | Venezuela |
| Aruba–Curaçao–Bonaire cactus scrub | Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao |
| Atacama Desert | Chile, Peru |
| Caatinga | Brazil |
| Cayman Islands xeric scrub | Cayman Islands |
| Cuban cactus scrub | Cuba |
| Galápagos Islands xeric scrub | Ecuador |
| Guajira–Barranquilla xeric scrub | Colombia, Venezuela |
| La Costa xeric shrublands | Venezuela |
| Leeward Islands xeric scrub | Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Saint Barthélemy, Saba, US Virgin Islands |
| Malpelo Island xeric scrub | Colombia |
| Motagua Valley thornscrub | Guatemala |
| Paraguana xeric scrub | Venezuela |
| San Lucan xeric scrub | Mexico |
| Sechura Desert | Peru |
| Tehuacán Valley matorral | Mexico |
| Windward Islands xeric scrub | Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
| Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago | Brazil |
Neotropical mangroves ecoregionsvte :
| Alvarado mangroves | Mexico |
| Amapá mangroves | Brazil |
| Bahamian mangroves | Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands |
| Bahia mangroves | Brazil |
| Belizean Coast mangroves | Belize |
| Belizean reef mangroves | Belize |
| Bocas del Toro–San Bastimentos Island–San Blas mangroves | Costa Rica, Panama |
| Coastal Venezuelan mangroves | Venezuela |
| Esmeraldas–Pacific Colombia mangroves | Colombia, Ecuador |
| Florida mangroves | United States |
| Greater Antilles mangroves | Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico |
| Guianan mangroves | French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela |
| Gulf of Fonseca mangroves | El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua |
| Gulf of Guayaquil–Tumbes mangroves | Ecuador, Peru |
| Gulf of Panama mangroves | Panama |
| Ilha Grande mangroves | Brazil |
| Lesser Antilles mangroves | Lesser Antilles |
| Magdalena–Santa Marta mangroves | Colombia |
| Manabí mangroves | Ecuador |
| Maranhão mangroves | Brazil |
| Marismas Nacionales–San Blas mangroves | Mexico |
| Mayan Corridor mangroves | Mexico |
| Mexican South Pacific Coast mangroves | Mexico |
| Moist Pacific Coast mangroves | Costa Rica, Panama |
| Mosquitia–Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast mangroves | Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua |
| Northern Dry Pacific Coast mangroves | El Salvador, Guatemala |
| Northern Honduras mangroves | Guatemala, Honduras |
| Pará mangroves | Brazil |
| Petenes mangroves | Mexico |
| Piura mangroves | Peru |
| Ría Lagartos mangroves | Mexico |
| Rio Negro–Rio San Sun mangroves | Costa Rica, Nicaragua |
| Rio Piranhas mangroves | Brazil |
| Rio São Francisco mangroves | Brazil |
| Southern Dry Pacific Coast mangroves | Costa Rica, Nicaragua |
| Tehuantepec–El Manchón mangroves | Mexico |
| Trinidad mangroves | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Usumacinta mangroves | Mexico |

## Citations

* ↑ "Neotropical Region - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics". www.sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 2024-06-26.
* ↑ "Central Andes mountains, South America". Encyclopædia Britannica.
* ↑ "Northern Andes mountains, South America". Encyclopædia Britannica.
* ↑ "Dinosaur-killing asteroid strike gave rise to Amazon rainforest". BBC News. 2 April 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
* ↑ Carvalho, Mónica R.; Jaramillo, Carlos; Parra, Felipe de la; Caballero-Rodríguez, Dayenari; Herrera, Fabiany; Wing, Scott; Turner, Benjamin L.; D’Apolito, Carlos; Romero-Báez, Millerlandy; Narváez, Paula; Martínez, Camila; Gutierrez, Mauricio; Labandeira, Conrad; Bayona, German; Rueda, Milton; Paez-Reyes, Manuel; Cárdenas, Dairon; Duque, Álvaro; Crowley, James L.; Santos, Carlos; Silvestro, Daniele (2 April 2021). "Extinction at the end-Cretaceous and the origin of modern Neotropical rainforests". Science. 372 (6537): 63–68. Bibcode:2021Sci...372...63C. doi:10.1126/science.abf1969. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 33795451. S2CID 232484243. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
* ↑ van der Sleen, Peter, and James S. Albert, eds. (2018) Field Guide to the Fishes of the Amazon, Orinoco, and Guianas. Princeton University Press, 2017. ISBN 9780691170749
* ↑ "Treehoppers: Aetalionidae, Melizoderidae, and Membracidae (Hemiptera)". treehoppers.insectmuseum.org.
* ↑ Simberloff, Daniel (March–April 1984). "The Next Mass Extinction". Garden. 8 (2): 4–5.
* ↑ Тахтаджян А. Л. Флористические области Земли / Академия наук СССР. Ботанический институт им. В. Л. Комарова. — Л.: Наука, Ленинградское отделение, 1978. — 247 с. — 4000 экз. DjVu, Google Books.
* ↑ Takhtajan, A. (1986). Floristic Regions of the World. (translated by T.J. Crovello & A. Cronquist). University of California Press, Berkeley, PDF, DjVu.
* ↑ "Neotropic Ecozone". July 2009.
* ↑ Olson, D. M., Dinerstein, E., Wikramanayake, E. D., Burgess, N. D., Powell, G. V. N., Underwood, E. C., D'Amico, J. A., Itoua, I., Strand, H. E., Morrison, J. C., Loucks, C. J., Allnutt, T. F., Ricketts, T. H., Kura, Y., Lamoreux, J. F., Wettengel, W. W., Hedao, P., Kassem, K. R. (2001). Terrestrial ecoregions of the world: a new map of life on Earth. Bioscience 51(11):933–938, Archived 2012-09-17 at the Wayback Machine.

## General and cited bibliography

* Albert, J. S., and R. E. Reis (2011). Historical Biogeography of Neotropical Freshwater Fishes. University of California Press, Berkeley. 424 pp. ISBN 978-0-520-26868-5.
* Bequaert, Joseph C. "An Introductory Study of Polistes in the United States and Canada with Descriptions of Some New North and South American Forms (Hymenoptera; Vespidæ)". Journal of the New York Entomological Society 48.1 (1940): 1-31.
* Cox, C. B.; P. D. Moore (1985). Biogeography: An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach (Fourth Edition). Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.
* Dinerstein, E., Olson, D. Graham, D. J. et al. (1995). A Conservation Assessment of the Terrestrial Ecoregions of Latin America and the Caribbean. World Bank, Washington, D.C.
* Olson, D. M., B. Chernoff, G. Burgess, I. Davidson, P. Canevari, E. Dinerstein, G. Castro, V. Morisset, R. Abell, and E. Toledo. 1997. Freshwater biodiversity of Latin America and the Caribbean: a conservation assessment. Draft report. World Wildlife Fund-U.S., Wetlands International, Biodiversity Support Program, and United States Agency for International Development, Washington, D.C.
* Reis, R. E., S. O. Kullander, and C. J. Ferraris Jr. 2003. Check List of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America. Edipucrs, Porto Alegre. 729 pp.
* Udvardy, M. D. F. (1975). A classification of the biogeographical provinces of the world. IUCN Occasional Paper no. 18. Morges, Switzerland: IUCN.
* van der Sleen, Peter, and James S. Albert, eds. Field Guide to the Fishes of the Amazon, Orinoco, and Guianas. Princeton University Press, 2017.