Chathamian BioProvince

This BioProvince (as defined by Armen Takhtajan) includes the Chatham archipelago situated in the South Pacific some 450 miles east of New Zealand. The largest is Chatham Island measuring about 30 miles in length while the next largest, Pitt Island, barely measures 8 miles. The only others sufficiently large to support terrestral plants are Mangere and South-East Island, each measuring about one and half miles in length. However, these islands are unique in being the only inhabited oceanic islands having a subantarctic (or subarctic) climate that have originated from the super-continental landmass of Gondwana. Isolated for some 80 million years they have developed a significant number of endemic taxa for such a small area. These include two monotypic genera (Coxella and Myosotidium) and of the 388 indigenous terrestrial plants about 47 are endemic.

The following accounts for this BioProvince have been written or will be written with particular reference to endemic and locally important species. Accounts available are displayed in green or yellow. Those displayed in red are either in the pipeline or awaiting expert contributions.

 

Index
Major Ecosystems
Endemic Vascular Plant Flora
Bryophyte Flora
Fungus Flora
Lichen Flora
Invertebrate Fauna
Amphibian Fauna
Reptile Fauna
Bird Fauna
Mammal Fauna
Conservation Status