The Australasian ecozone is Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia east of Java, Bali and Borneo. New Zealand is a distinctive sub-region of this zone.
The division from the Indomalayan ecozone is the Wallace Line, named after the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace who identified the differences between the islands either side of the line.
From a biological point of view, Australasia is a distinct region with a common evolutionary history and a great many unique plants and animals, some of them common to the entire area, others specific to particular parts but sharing a common ancestory.
There are 13 endemic bird families including emus, cassowaries, kiwis, kagu, cockatoos, bird-of-paradise, and honeyeaters
See also: Australasia, List of Australasia ecoregions
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