Toward a cladistic model for the caribbean subregion: delimitation of areas of endemism

Abstract

A new biogeographic scherne for the Caribbean subregion is proposed herein, where the following 29 provinces are recognized: Sierra Madre Occidental (western Mexico: states of Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, and Jalisco, above 1,000 m altitude), Sierra Madre Oriental (eastern Mexico: states of San Luis Potosí, Coahuila, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, and Querétaro, above 1,500 m altitud e), Transmexican Volcanic Belt (central Mexico: states ofGuanajuato, Mexico, Distrito Federal, Jalisco, Michoacán, Puebla, Oaxaca, Tlaxcala, and Veracruz), Balsas Basin (central Mexico: states ofGuerrero, Mexico, Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos, Oaxaca, and Puebla, below 2,000 m altitude), Sierra Madre del Sur (south central Mexico, from southern Michoacán to Guerrero and Oaxaca, and part of Pucbla, abo ve 1,000 m altitude), Mexican Gulf (coast ofthe Mexican Gulf, in eastern Mexico, Belize, and northern Guatemala), Yucatán peninsula (Yucatán península, in the Mexican states of Carnpeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo, below 200 m altitude), Mexican Pacific Coast (western Mexico, in the Pacific coast ofthe states ofSinaloa, Nayarit, Colima, Jalisco, Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Chiapas), Chiapas (Mexico, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, basically corresponding to the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, from 500 to 2,000 m altitude), Eastern Central Arnerica (eastern Central America, frorn Guatemala to Panarna), Western Panamanian Isthrnus (western Central America, from Costa Rica to western Panama), Bahama (Bahama archipelago, comprising the islands of Abaco-Grand Bahama, Andros-Birnini, Cat, Crooked-Mayaguana, Exurnas, Inaguas, Long-Ragged Island Range, Mona, New Providence-Eleutheras, San Salvador-Rum Cay, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Martin, St. Vincent, and Turks and Caicos), Cuba (island ofCuba), Cayman islands (archipelago including Grand Cayman, Little Cayrnan, and Cayrnan Brac), Jamaica (island of Jamaica), Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Puerto Rico (island ofPuerto Rico), Lesser Antilles (archipelagos ofthe Lesser Antilles and the Virgin islands), Maracaibo (northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela), Coastal Venezuela (northern Venezuela and Colombia; also includes the islands of Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire), Trinidad and Tobago (islands of Trinidad and Tobago), Chocó (Pacific coast ofnorthern Ecuador, Colombia, and Panarna), Cauca (Colombia and Ecuador), Magdalena (western Venezuela and northeastern Colombia), Venezuelan Llanos (great part of Venezuela and northeastern Colombia), Western Ecuador (western Ecuador and southwestern Colombia), Dry Ecuador (western Ecuador), Galapagos islands (Colón archipelago, in the Pacific Ocean, 950 km west frorn the coast of Ecuador), and Tumbes-Piura (southern Ecuador and northern Peru). Each ofthe provinces represents a natural biogeographic unit, herein defined.