palaeotropicalpaleotropicaladj.
/ˌpalɪə(ʊ)ˈtrɒpᵻkl/, /ˌpeɪlɪə(ʊ)ˈtrɒpᵻkl/, U.S. /ˈˌpeɪlioʊˈtrɑpək(ə)l/ Biology.
Originally: designating, relating to, or inhabiting a zoogeographical region which includes the tropical parts of the Old World (divided by Sclater into Ethiopian, Indian, and Australian regions). Later also: designating a phytogeographical kingdom comprising Africa, tropical Asia, New Guinea, and many Pacific islands (excluding Australia and New Zealand). Cf. neotropical adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > region of the earth > zone or belt > [adjective] > biogeographical
Hudsonian1835
Nearctic1858
neotropical1858
Palaearctic1858
palaeogean1858
palaeotropical1858
tropicopolitan1858
subregional1870
neotropic1877
Notogaean1879
Indogaean1885
Ornithogaean1890
Pontic1891
Notogaeic1896
ecogeographical1939
ecogeographic1951
1858 P. L. Sclater in Jrnl. Proc. Linn. Soc.: Zool. 2 138 Æthiopian or Western Palæotropical Region.
1886 Philos. Trans. 1885 (Royal Soc.) 176 46 I shall describe the South American forms first, and then take up the Palæotropical kinds.
1901 H. Gadow in Cambr. Nat. Hist. VIII. iii. 76 All these Raninae indicate that the Austro-Malayan and Melanesian islands belong to the Palaeotropical region.
1935 Jrnl. Ecol. 23 543 Caralluma europaea and Chamaerops humilis..belong to an old Palaeotropical element with allies right across Africa into the Indian desert in the former, and the Indian and eastern Asia in the latter case.
1999 E. G. Leigh Trop. Forest Ecol. vii. 162 Primate biomasses do appear lower in undisturbed Neotropical forests than in their Paleotropical counterparts.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1858