Wallacea

faunal region

Written by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

July 15, 2026

Quick Summary

Wallacea is a biogeographic region located in central Indonesia, situated between the Oriental and Australian faunal regions. This area, which includes the Philippines, Celebes, the Moluccas, and the Lesser Sundas, is characterized by a mixture of fauna from both larger regions. While many zoogeographers no longer consider the boundary, known as the Wallace Line, a strict regional division, it still marks a significant limit for the distribution of many animal groups. Wallacea's fauna is described as impoverished and unbalanced but possesses a high degree of endemicity, meaning many species found there exist nowhere else.12

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

2 Britannica Sources

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.

biogeographic region
Wallacea
The famous zoogeographic transition zone called Wallacea is located in central Indonesia. This zone, usually included in the Paleotropical realm, is bounded to the west by Huxley’s Line (or a variation thereof) and to the east by Lydekker’s Line (Figure 5), which runs along…
Read More
The famous zoogeographic transition zone called Wallacea is located in central Indonesia. This zone, usually included in the Paleotropical realm, is bounded to the west by Huxley’s Line (or a variation thereof) and to the east by Lydekker’s Line (Figure 5), which runs along…
Read More