Misplaced Pages

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42-676: Dodona egeon , the orange Punch , is a small but striking butterfly found in the Indomalayan realm - in Mussoorie to Assam, Burma (nominate) and Peninsular Malaya ( D. e. confluens Corbet, 1941) that belongs to the family Riodinidae (which is also known as the Punches and Judies in India). From Charles Thomas Bingham (1905) The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma Butterflies Volume I: Male. Upperside. Fore wing black,

84-574: A part of South Asia, is usually not included in the Indian subcontinent. Maldives, an island country consisting of a small archipelago southwest of the peninsula, while largely considered a part of the Indian subcontinent, sometimes is mentioned by sources, including the International Monetary Fund , as a group of islands away from the Indian subcontinent in a south-western direction. The population of Indian subcontinent

126-415: A river or a no man's land . The precise definition of an "Indian subcontinent" in a geopolitical context is somewhat contested as there is no globally accepted definition on which countries are a part of South Asia or the Indian subcontinent. Whether called the Indian subcontinent or South Asia, the definition of the geographical extent of this region varies. Afghanistan , despite often considered as

168-408: A transverse similar spot in interspace 3; the other markings are silvery anteriorly, ochraceous posteriorly. Hind wing: a short transverse silvery streak at base, a narrow similar streak along vein 1 not reaching the tornus, a silvery streak along the dorsal margin turning upwards and joining an interrupted discal silvery transverse fascia from the costa, a broader straight transverse medial band between

210-438: A yellow spot in interspaces 2 and 3, and three upper postdiscal whitish smaller spots in interspaces 4, 5, 6 shifted somewhat further towards the termen; lastly, two preapical white dots. Hindwing ochraceous yellow, the dorsal margin broadly shaded with brown, a medial straight fascia and an upper shorter discal fascia dark brown; a postdiscal macular, subterminal and terminal more continuous dark brown bands, all three coalescing at

252-643: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Indomalayan realm Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers , Indomalaya spreads all over the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia to lowland southern China , and through Indonesia as far as Sumatra , Java , Bali , and Borneo , east of which lies the Wallace line , the realm boundary named after Alfred Russel Wallace which separates Indomalaya from Australasia . Indomalaya also includes

294-607: Is characteristic of the seasonally dry forests of the Indomalaya, from India through Indochina, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Tropical pitcher plants ( Nepenthes ) are also characteristic of Indomalaya, and the greatest diversity of species is in Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines. The tropical forests of Indomalaya and Australasia share many lineages of plants, which have managed over millions of years to disperse across

336-599: The British Indian Ocean Territory which is geologically associated with the subcontinent. Geologically, the subcontinent originates from Insular India , an isolated landmass that rifted from the supercontinent of Gondwana during the Cretaceous and merged with the landmass of Eurasia nearly 55 million years ago, forming the Himalayas. It is one of the most populated regions in

378-695: The Cretaceous . Insular India subsequently drifted northeastwards, colliding with the Eurasian Plate nearly 55 million years ago, during the Eocene , forming the Indian subcontinent. The zone where the Eurasian and Indian subcontinent plates meet remains geologically active, prone to major earthquakes. Physiographically , it is a peninsular region in South Asia delineated by the Himalayas in

420-555: The Oxford English Dictionary , the term subcontinent signifies a "subdivision of a continent which has a distinct geographical, political, or cultural identity" and also a "large land mass somewhat smaller than a continent". Its use to signify the Indian subcontinent is evidenced from the early twentieth century when most of the territory was either part of the British Empire or allied with them. It

462-462: The Partition of India , citizens of Pakistan (which became independent of British India in 1947) and Bangladesh (which became independent of Pakistan in 1971) often perceive the use of the Indian subcontinent as offensive and suspicious because of the dominant placement of India in the term. As such it is being increasingly less used in those countries. Meanwhile, many Indian analysts prefer to use

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504-478: The Philippines , lowland Taiwan , and Japan 's Ryukyu Islands . Most of Indomalaya was originally covered by forest, and includes tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests , with tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests predominant in much of India and parts of Southeast Asia. The tropical forests of Indomalaya are highly variable and diverse, with economically important trees, especially in

546-478: The colugos (Dermoptera) and treeshrews (Scandentia), are endemic to the realm, as are families Craseonycteridae ( Kitti's hog-nosed bat ), Diatomyidae , Platacanthomyidae , Tarsiidae ( tarsiers ) and Hylobatidae ( gibbons ). Large mammals characteristic of Indomalaya include the leopard , tigers , water buffalos , Asian elephant , Indian rhinoceros , Javan rhinoceros , Malayan tapir , orangutans , and gibbons . Indomalaya has three endemic bird families,

588-527: The spread of Buddhism out of the subcontinent into other parts of Asia. The Islamic expansion arrived into the subcontinent in two ways: through Afghanistan on land, and to the Indian coast through the maritime routes on the Arabian Sea. In terms of modern geopolitical boundaries, the subcontinent constitutes Bangladesh , Bhutan , India, Nepal , and Pakistan , besides, by convention, the island country of Sri Lanka and other nearby island nations of

630-511: The Indian Ocean, such as Maldives and the British Indian Ocean Territory . Unlike "South Asia", sometimes the expression "Indian subcontinent" may exclude the islands of Maldives and Sri Lanka. According to Pawan Budhwar, Arup Varma, and Manjusha Hirekhan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan constitute the Indian subcontinent. Budhwar, Varma, and Hirekhan also maintain that with Afghanistan and Maldives included

672-798: The Indian Plate along with the Chagos–Laccadive Ridge , a submarine ridge that was generated by the northern drift of the Indian Plate over the Réunion hotspot during the Cretaceous and early Cenozoic times. The Maldives archipelago rises from a basement of volcanic basalt outpourings from a depth of about 2000 m forming the central part of the ridge between Laccadives and the Great Chagos Bank . According to anthropologist Patrap C. Dutta, "the Indian subcontinent occupies

714-585: The Irenidae ( fairy bluebirds ), Megalaimidae and Rhabdornithidae ( Philippine creepers ). Also characteristic are pheasants , pittas , Old World babblers , and flowerpeckers . Indomalaya has 1000 species of amphibians in 81 genera, about 17 of global species. 800 Indomalayan species, or 80%, are endemic. Indomalaya has three endemic families of amphibians, Nasikabatrachidae , Ichthyophiidae , and Uraeotyphlidae . 329, or 33%, of Indomalayan amphibians are considered threatened or extinct, with habitat loss as

756-821: The Western Fold Belt along the border (between the Sulaiman Range and the Chaman Fault) is the western boundary of the Indian Plate, where, along the Eastern Hindu Kush, lies the Afghanistan–Pakistan border. In the east, it is bounded by Patkai , Naga , Lushai and Chin hills. The Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea form the boundary of the Indian subcontinent in the south, south-east and south-west. Given

798-427: The apex; tornal lobe and slender tail black. Underside chestnut-red, with the following more or less silvery markings;Fore wing: a short streak at base of costal margin, transverse basal, medial and discal broad bands, a postdiscal irregular series of transverse spots and a very slender and delicate transverse series of short subterminal lines; between the discal and postdiscal markings there are two silvery subcostal and

840-433: The basal area to the middle of the cell dark ochraceous red; a short, broad, oblique yellow subbasal band from subcostal vein to vein 1; discal yellow spots beyond in interspaces 1, 2, 4 and 5, the upper two and lower two spots respectively separated by the veins only, the latter two spots joined to the subbasal band by an elongate reddish-yellow spot in interspace la; a postdiscal series of a yellow crescent marks surmounted by

882-533: The bioregion on the northwest, north, and northeast; these ranges were formed by the collision of the northward-drifting Indian subcontinent with Asia beginning 45 million years ago. The Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Himalaya are a major biogeographic boundary between the subtropical and tropical flora and fauna of the Indian subcontinent and the temperate-climate Palearctic realm. The Indochina bioregion includes most of mainland Southeast Asia , including Myanmar , Thailand , Laos , Vietnam , and Cambodia , as well as

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924-415: The countries of Bangladesh , Bhutan , the British Indian Ocean Territory (United Kingdom), India , Maldives , Nepal , Pakistan , and Sri Lanka . Although the terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are often used interchangeably to denote the region, the geopolitical term of South Asia frequently includes Afghanistan , which is not considered a part of the subcontinent, while excluding

966-481: The difficulty of passage through the Himalayas, the sociocultural, religious and political interaction of the Indian subcontinent has largely been through the valleys of Afghanistan in its northwest, the valleys of Manipur in its east, and by maritime routes . More difficult but historically important interaction has also occurred through passages pioneered by the Tibetans . These routes and interactions have led to

1008-437: The dipterocarps, island-hopped across Wallacea to New Guinea, and several Gondwanian plant families, including podocarps and araucarias , moved westward from Australia-New Guinea into western Malesia and Southeast Asia. The subfamily Dipterocarpoideae comprises characteristic tree species in Indomalaya's moist and seasonally dry forests, with the greatest species diversity in the moist forests of Borneo . Teak ( Tectona )

1050-491: The discal band and base of wing, a very broad elongate triangular upper postdiscal silvery patch, followed by a series of transverse slender black markings terminating at the apex in two black spots set in a quadrate silvery patch; lobe and slender tail jet-black, margined on the inner side by a white line and surmounted by a grey tornal patch. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen blackish brown; beneath, palpi, thorax and abdomen greyish white. This Riodinidae -related article

1092-758: The east, the Iranian Plateau to the west, and the Indian Ocean to the south. Apart from Maritime Southeast Asia (the Malay Archipelago ), the maritime region of the subcontinent ( littoral South Asia ) is the only subregion of Asia that lies partly within the Southern Hemisphere : the British Indian Ocean Territory two of the 26 atolls of the Maldives lie entirely within the Southern Hemisphere. Historically,

1134-560: The families Dipterocarpaceae and Fabaceae . The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) divides Indomalayan realm into three bio-regions, which it defines as "geographic clusters of eco-regions that may span several habitat types, but have strong biogeographic affinities, particularly at taxonomic levels higher than the species level (genus, family)". The Indian subcontinent bioregion covers most of India , Bangladesh , Nepal , Bhutan , and Sri Lanka and eastern parts of Pakistan . The Hindu Kush , Karakoram , Himalaya , and Patkai ranges bound

1176-504: The islands east of the Wallace line are derived at least in part from species of Australian origin, such as marsupial mammals and ratite birds. The flora of Indomalaya blends elements from the ancient supercontinents of Laurasia and Gondwana . Gondwanian elements were first introduced by India, which detached from Gondwana approximately 90 MYA , carrying its Gondwana-derived flora and fauna northward, which included cichlid fish and

1218-513: The major landmass of South Asia." According to historian B. N. Mukherjee , "The subcontinent is an indivisible geographical entity." According to geographer Dudley Stamp , "There is perhaps no mainland part of the world better marked off by nature as a region or a 'realm' by itself than the Indian subcontinent." This natural physical landmass in South Asia is the dry-land portion of the Indian Plate , which has been relatively isolated from

1260-663: The north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east. It extends southward into the Indian Ocean with the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast. Most of this region rests on the Indian Plate and is isolated from the rest of Asia by large mountain barriers. Laccadive Islands , Maldives and the Chagos Archipelago are three series of coral atolls , cays and Faroes on

1302-478: The plant families Crypteroniaceae and possibly Dipterocarpaceae . India collided with Asia 30-45 MYA, and exchanged species. Later, as Australia-New Guinea drifted north, the collision of the Australian and Asian plates pushed up the islands of Wallacea , which were separated from one another by narrow straits, allowing a botanic exchange between Indomalaya and Australasia . Asian rainforest flora, including

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1344-485: The principal cause. More information is available under Indomalayan realm fauna . 7°00′N 97°00′E  /  7.000°N 97.000°E  / 7.000; 97.000 Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia , mostly situated on the Indian Plate , projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas . Geographically, it spans

1386-420: The region is referred to as South Asia. The periphery of the subcontinent, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the island chains of Maldives, features large Muslim populations, while the heartland, including most of India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, are overwhelmingly Hindu or Buddhist. Since most of these countries are located on the Indian Plate, a continuous landmass , the borders between countries are often either

1428-599: The region surrounding and southeast of the Indus River was often simply referred to as "India" in many historical sources. Even today, historians use this term to denote the entire Indian subcontinent when discussing history up until the era of the British Raj. Over time, however, "India" evolved to refer to a distinct political entity that eventually became a nation-state (today the Republic of India). According to

1470-516: The rest of Eurasia. The Himalayas (from Brahmaputra River in the east to Indus River in the west), Karakoram (from Indus River in the east to Yarkand River in the west) and the Hindu Kush mountains (from Yarkand River westwards) form its northern boundary. In the west it is bounded by parts of the mountain ranges of Hindu Kush , Spīn Ghar (Safed Koh), Sulaiman Mountains , Kirthar Mountains , Brahui range, and Pab range among others, with

1512-491: The straits and islands between Sundaland and New Guinea. The two floras evolved in long isolation, and the fossil record suggests that Asian species dispersed to Australasia starting 33 million years ago as Australasia moved northwards, and dispersal increased 12 million years ago as the two continents approached their present positions. The exchange was asymmetric, with more Indomalayan species spreading to Australasia than Australasian species to Indomalaya. Two orders of mammals,

1554-558: The subcontinent around the world e.g. " Australia's tour of the subcontinent". The word is also sometimes used as an adjective in this context e.g. "subcontinental conditions". The Indian subcontinent was formerly part of Gondwana , a supercontinent formed during the late Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic . Gondwana began to break up during the Mesozoic , with Insular India separating from Antarctica 130-120 million years ago and Madagascar around 90 million years ago, during

1596-694: The subtropical forests of southern China . Malesia is a botanical province which straddles the boundary between Indomalaya and Australasia. It includes the Malay Peninsula and the western Indonesian islands (known as Sundaland ), the Philippines, the eastern Indonesian islands, and New Guinea. While the Malesia has much in common botanically, the portions east and west of the Wallace Line differ greatly in land animal species; Sundaland shares its fauna with mainland Asia, while terrestrial fauna on

1638-481: The term because of the socio-cultural commonalities of the region. The region has also been called the "Asian subcontinent", the "South Asian subcontinent", as well as "India" or " Greater India " in the classical and pre-modern sense. The sport of cricket is notably popular in India , Pakistan , Sri Lanka , Nepal and Bangladesh . Within a cricket context, these countries are often referred to simply as

1680-406: The usage of the term South Asia is becoming more widespread since it clearly distinguishes the region from East Asia. While South Asia , a more accurate term that reflects the region's contemporary political demarcations, is replacing the Indian subcontinent , a term closely linked to the region's colonial heritage, as a cover term, the latter is still widely used in typological studies. Since

1722-734: The world, holding roughly 20–25 percent of the global population. Geographically, the peninsular region in Southern Asia is located below the Third Pole , delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Indo-Burman Ranges in the east. The neighboring geographical regions around the subcontinent include the Tibetan Plateau to the north, the Indochinese Peninsula to

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1764-587: Was a convenient term to refer to the region comprising both British India and the princely states . The term has been particularly common in the British Empire and its successors, while the term South Asia is the more common usage in Europe and North America. According to historians Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal , the Indian subcontinent has come to be known as South Asia "in more recent and neutral parlance". Indologist Ronald B. Inden argues that

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