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Australasian boundaries

To: Birding Aus <>
Subject: Australasian boundaries
From: Phil & Sue Gregory <>
Date: Sat, 31 May 2008 21:34:53 +1000
In answer to Laurie's query, the NE boundary of Australasia seems to be where you can make some kind of justification for drawing it, I am not sure a consensus exists! ABA excludes everything east of the Australian mainland continental shelf, which is ridiculous as just a casual look at the bird family compositions of NZ, Solomons, Vanuatu, Norfolk Is, Lord Howe etc shows a heavy preponderance of Australian taxa, and this goes right out as far as Fiji, with honeyeaters, wood- swallows, Golden-derived whistlers and a form of what is currently called Fan-tailed Cuckoo.
Hawaii is faunistically very distinct so this is not usually included.

The NW boundary is also contentious, as the original Wallace's line ran west of Sulawesi, which is very much a transitional avifauna between Asia and Australasia, having such Asian-derived forms as woodpeckers, hornbills and babblers, as well as Australasian derivatives like a gerygone, wood-swallow and honeyeaters.

Most recent treatments use Weber's line, which excludes Sulawesi but does include the much more strongly Australasian avifauna of Halamahera and the North Moluccas. The Lesser Sundas (including Timor) are excluded, and the South Moluccas are problematic, with Buru and Seram often included in Australasia, with the Kai Islands and Tanimbar either in or out depending on your point of view. Note that Christmas Is. and the Cocos-Keeling Is. are definitely out, being well into the Asian-Oriental faunal zone.

It is interesting that definitions of the Western Palearctic are just as variable and complex, with a new major reference going to include Iraq, Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. but I digress......

Phil Gregory
www. cassowary-house.com.au
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