Historia naturalis bulgarica, 23: 3, 2015 Настоящото издание е посветено на 65-годишнината от рождението на видния български териолог и палеотериолог Проф. д-р Николай СПаСов Директор на Националния природонаучен музей при БаН This issue is dedicated to the prominent Bulgarian Theriologist and Palaeo-theriologist Prof. NIKOLAI SPASSOV Director of the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia On the occasion of his 65th Birthday Снимка: Марсел Фенс На 7 април 2016 г. забележителният български зоолог и палеонтолог проф. д-р Николай Спасов навърши (някак неусетно) 65 години. При атестациите за 2015 г. видяхме, че при цялата си директорска заетост Николай Спасов е начело в Музея и по научна продукция. той си знае кога пише многобройните си трудове, обхващащи един свят от мечките до китайските фосили, от екологията на чакалите до навлизането на първите хора в Европа. Изградил си сериозен международен авторитет, проф. Спасов е търсен и уважаван съавтор на световни специалисти и рецензент в най-утвърдените списания. това е чест за цялата българска наука. освен с научните си постижения, Николай е и пример за директор и колега с ценни човешки качества. Син на забележителни интелектуалци, той продължава най-добрите традиции на интелигентния българин – сърдечно и скромно отношение с колегите, готовност да помогне на тези, които имат нужда, трудолюбие и съвестно изпълнение на всички задачи. През годините, когато управляваше и управлява Музея, Н. Спасов допринесе много за укрепването му във всяко отношение. При всички финансови и други затруднения на новото време, той не престава да преследва големи проекти за разширяването и модернизирането на Музея и постига все нови резултати, до голяма степен и поради авторитета, който си е изградил. колегите и приятелите на проф. Николай Спасов му желаят добро здраве и достатъчно сили да твори наука и да ръководи нашия прекрасен музей. От колегите му Historia naturalis bulgarica, 23: 5-36, 2016 Arachnozoogeographical analysis of the boundary between Eastern Palearctic and Indomalayan Region Petar Beron Abstract: This study aims to test how the distribution of various orders of Arachnida follows the classical subdivision of Asia and where the transitional zone between the Eastern Palearctic (Holarctic Kingdom) and the Indomalayan Region (Paleotropic) is situated. This boundary includes Thar Desert, Karakorum, Himalaya, a band in Central China, the line north of Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands. The conclusion is that most families of Arachnida (90), excluding most of the representatives of Acari, are common for the Palearctic and Indomalayan Regions. There are no endemic orders or suborders in any of them. Regarding Arach- nida, their distribution does not justify the sharp difference between the two Kingdoms (Paleotropical and Holarctic) in Eastern Eurasia. The transitional zone (Sino-Japanese Realm) of Holt et al. (2013) also does not satisfy the criteria for outlining an area on the same footing as the Palearctic and Indomalayan Realms. Key words: Palearctic, Indomalayan, Arachnozoogeography, Arachnida According to the classical subdivision the region’s high mountains and plateaus. In southern Indomalayan Region is formed from the regions in Asia the boundary of the Palearctic is largely alti- Asia that are south of the Himalaya, and a zone in tudinal. The foothills of the Himalaya with average China. North of this “line” is the Palearctic (consist- altitude between about 2000 – 2500 m a.s.l. form the ing og different subregions). This “line” (transitional boundary between the Palearctic and Indomalaya zone) is separating two kingdoms, therefore the dif- Ecoregions. ferences between them should be substantial. China, Korea and Japan have more humid and temperate climate (as compared to the adja- Geography cent Siberia and Central Asia), and are home to rich temperate coniferous, broadleaf, and mixed forests, Eastern Palearctic which currently are mostly limited to mountainous The Eastern Palearctic is spread (very condi- areas, as the densely populated lowlands and river tionally) east of the Jenisey River (Johansen Line, basins have been subjected to intensive agricultural Johansen, 1955), Caspian Sea and Turkey, and goes use and urbanisation. as far as Japan, China and Nepal. It is characterised by boreal (taiga) regions, steppe grasslands and deserts. Indomalayan Region Then it follows the high mountains (Pamir, Tienshan, The tropical part of Eurasia and the archi- Hindukush, Karakorum, Himalaya, the mountains of pelagos south of it form a subkingdom of the the Far East). The problems of the line (transitional Paleotropical Kingdom of Engler. The name used zone) which separates it from the Indomalayan Region by Sclater (1858) was Indian Region, by Wallace (and the Paleotropic), arise in Nepal, India, China and (1876) – Oriental Region, other zoogeographers fol- Japan (the Ryukyus). low Darlington (1957) and Udvardy (1975) to call Central Asia and the Iranian Plateau are home it Indomalayan Region or Realm. It consists of the to dry steppe grasslands and desert basins, with southernmost territories of China, Taiwan, India, mountain forests, woodlands, and grasslands in the Sri Lanka, Indochina, and the islands of Indonesia 6 Petar Beron and Malaysia up to the Lydekker’s Line (includ- In the Indian Ocean, the Andaman Islands and ing Wallacea as a subregion). Geptner (1936) and the Nicobar Islands are two island groups, separated others include Wallacea into the Australian Region by the 10° N parallel, with the Andamans to the north, (Notogea). Characteristic for these regions is the hot and the Nicobars to the south. The total land area of or warm climate, which allows the presence of or- the territory is approximately 6496 km2. The islands ders like Amblypygi, Uropygi, Schizomida and other are situated in the Bay of Bengal, and geographically thermophile groups. Typical (but declining fast) are are part of South-East Asia, 150 km north of Aceh also the humid tropical forests. Arid areas (i.e. in in Indonesia. They are separated from Thailand and India) are much less abundant which determines the Burma by the Andaman Sea. scarcity of groups like Solifugae and Scorpiones. The The tropical Pacific islands are sometimes as- delimitation of Sclater – Wallace is based entirely on signed the status of a subregion to the Australian land vertebrates, with the flora and invertebrates of Region (Geptner, 1936, De Lattin, 1967, Buchar, Papuan Area being predominantly Indomalayan. 1983), or given the rank of a separate Polynesian Darlington (1957) includes New Guinea in the Region (Bobrinskij, Zenkevitch & Birstein, 1945), Australian Region. Polynesian Region within the Kingdom Paleogea The western border of the Indomalayan Region (Lopatin, 1989), or “Oceana Realm” (Udvardy, runs across the Tar Desert, where the Indian fauna 1975, Holt et al., 2013). Biogeographically these is- is mixed with the one of West Asia. In the Himalaya lands are closer to the “Oriental” Region (Morrone, the northern border is very interesting, as within 2015). Moreover, the “typical” for Australia ver- small distance Indomalayan elements meet with tebrate fauna is not represented on these islands. animals from another Kingdom – the Holarctic. Many arachnologists contributed to the study of the Across China there is a large band running be- arachnids of these oceanic islands (i.e. Beier 1940, tween the Huanhe and Yangtzekiang (Hwang Ho Cokendolpher & Tsurusaki 1994, Berland 1934, and Yangtze) Rivers (Hoffmann 2001, Morrone, Lehtinen 1996). 2015). The biogeographers and some zoogeogra- Arldt (1908) related the distribution of some phers (Lopatin, 1989) clearly include the Papuan orders of Arachnida with the geological age of the Area (Subregion?) in the Indomalayan Region, while continents. Among the modern ideas about the de- according to Krizhanovskiy (1976) the Papuan en- velopment of South-East Asia we must mention demics are originating mostly from the Paleotropics. the papers of Audley-Charles et al. (1972, 1981), According some specialists (Geptner, 1936, Audley-Charles (1984), Hall (1997, 1998, 2001, Lopatin, 1989) the central part of the Pacific also 2002), Hall & Holloway (Eds.)(1998), Golonka et belongs to the Indomalayan Region, while according al. (2006), Wang Hongzhen (Ed.)(1985), including others (Udvardy, 1975) Melanesia and all Pacific the classical papers of Wallace (1869), Lydekker islands form the Oceania Biogeographical Realm. (1896), and Weber (1899). For Ribeiro et al. (2914) the “Oriental Region” is Many other authors (Katili (1971, 1975, 1978, not a separate area, but it is merged with the East Wilson & Moss, 1999, Briggs, 1995, Procheş Palearctic. & Ramdhani, 2012, Metcalfe, 2002, Turner, East Asia was not much affected by glaciations Hovenkamp & Welzen, 2001, Cox, 2001, Dassman, in the ice ages, and retained 96 % of Pliocene tree 1976, Grehan, 1988, Hewer, 1971, Horton, 1973, genera, while Europe retained only 27 %. In the sub- Kreft & Jetz, 2010, 2013, Lohman et al., 2006, tropical region of southern China and in the south- Maruyama, Seno & Liou, 1989, Morrone, 2002, ern edge of the Himalaya, the transition from the 2004, Pathirana, 1980, Schmidt, 1954, Voris, Palearctic temperate forests to the subtropical and 2000 and others) have discussed the very notions of tropical forests of Indomalaya results in a rich and natural regions, subregions and provinces. Sokolov diverse mix of plant and animal species. The moun- et al. (1986) discussed the place of Mongolia in the tains of South-West China are also designated