Number of taxaNumber of taxa in common
generaspeciesgeneraspecies
Statesnon-batsbatsnon-batsbatsnon-batsbatsnon-batsbats
Texas51121032539105812
Tamaulipas48238336........
Veracruz5336946038205027

For all of the land mammals of Tamaulipas, the resemblance is as follows:

Genera.—Texas 58, Veracruz 57.

Species.—Texas 40, Veracruz 39.

On the whole, the fauna of Tamaulipas resembles faunas of both the Brazilian Subregion and the North American part of the Nearctic Subregion (see Hershkovitz, 1958:611). Considering the 48 genera of non-flying land mammals of Tamaulipas, 24 genera occur in habitats from the North American part through habitats of northern México into the Brazilian Subregion. Of the remaining 24 genera, 16 occur in the North American part of the Nearctic Subregion or in it and the part of northern México north of the Brazilian boundary, whereas eight occur in the Brazilian Subregion or in it and the northern part of México. None occurs only in Tamaulipas or only in northern México.

The non-flying fauna of the coastal plain east of the Sierra Madre Oriental and south of the Sierra de Tamaulipas and Soto la Marina is mainly tropical in affinities; only 27 per cent of that fauna (at the subspecific level) resembles the fauna north of Soto la Marina, which is Nearctic in its affinities. The fauna of the Sierra de Tamaulipas has a greater taxonomic resemblance (20.4 per cent at subspecific level) to that of the Sierra Madre Oriental, than does the fauna of the Sierra San Carlos (17.6 per cent). Taxonomic resemblance between the faunas from the Sierra San Carlos and the Sierra de Tamaulipas amounts to only 16.1 per cent. Therefore, the faunas of these two Sierras (both are included in the same zoogeographic unit) resemble each other less than either resembles the fauna of the Sierra Madre Oriental (in another zoogeographic unit). Of the three sierran faunas, those of the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Sierra de Tamaulipas have most in common. Migration from one to the other in relative recent time may account for the resemblance. The Sierra San Carlos may have been isolated for a long time and interchange between its fauna and those of the other two sierras, therefore, may have been slight.

Study of the taxonomic resemblance shows that the dividing line, in eastern México, between Nearctic and Neotropical faunas is along the eastern base of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the southern base of the Sierra de Tamaulipas and thence to the coast at or near Soto la Marina.


PLANT-MAMMAL RELATIONSHIPS