The Nearctic is the ecozone of terrestrial ecoregions of North America. It includes Greenland and the highlands of Mexico. It has distinct fauna from the Neotropic zone, due in part to a narrow land bridge at the Panama Isthmus. Plant life is also quite distinct.
This zone is sometimes grouped with the Palearctic, which shares many groups as the Holarctic.
One bird family, the Wrentit (Timaliinae) is endemic to the Nearctic region. The Holarctic has four endemic groups: Gaviidae, divers, Tetraoninae grouse, Alcidae auks, and Bombycillidae waxwings.
Animals originally unique to the Nearctic include families:
Plants originally unique to the Nearctic include families:
(this is a stub - this zone is one of 8 on Earth, so it has about 1/8 of Earth's biodiversity - this ought to be an extremely extensive article on ecologies)
External link :
Map of the ecozons (http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/ecoregions/global200/pages/mainmap.htm)
