Biogeographic delimitation of the Subantarctic subregion and its provinces

Abstract

The Subantarctic subregion, which belongs to the Andean region of the Austral kingdom, comprises the austral Andes from 37° south latitude to Cabo de Hornos, the archipelago of southern Chile and Argentina, and the Malvinas, South Georgia, and Juan Fernández islands. The Subantarctic subregion comprises six provinces: Maule (southern Chile and Argentina, between 34-37° south latitude), Valdivian (southern Chile and Argentina, south of the Maule province, reaching 47° south latitude), Magellanic forest (southern Chile from 47° south latitude to Cabo de Hornos, and southern Argentina in small portions of western Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego), Magellanic moorland (southern Chile and Argentina, limited by the Magellanic forest province to the east), Malvinas islands (Argentinean archipelago of the Malvinas or Falkland islands and South Georgia island, situated in the south Atlantic ocean, about 550 km from Tierra del Fuego), and Juan Fernández islands (Chilean islands of Masatierra or Robinson Crusoe, Masafuera or Alejandro Selkirk, and Santa Clara, situated in the Pacific ocean, 600 km west of Valparaiso, at 33° south latitude).