RE: subendemic was: Nepenthes

Jan Schlauer (zxmsl01@studserv.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de)
Wed, 19 Oct 1994 14:19:58 +0100

Michael,

>What does subendemic mean?

_U.corynephora_ is endemic to a small region in Burma and might extend its
range into Thailand. So it can neither be considered endemic to Burma nor
to Thailand. In order to stimulate writers of endangered species lists or
plant hunters from any country (these people are usually trained to parse
the "ENDEMIC"-tag), the term subendemic is applied to taxa being indeed
endemic to a phytogeographical unit (or several related units) which is
unfortunately extending beyond political units (=countries).

Another example: If _Pinguicula casabitoana_ is considered conspecific with
_P.lignicola_ (the older name), _P.lignicola_ is subendemic to Cuba (the
whole range extending into the Dominican Republic), and endemic to the West
Indies.

Kind regards
Jan