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Information about Fauna

For other uses, see fauna (disambiguation).


Fauna is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.

Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna".

Paleontologists sometimes refer to a sequence of faunal stages, which is a series of rocks all containing similar fossils.

The name comes from Fauna, a Roman fertility and earth goddess, the Roman god Faunus, and the related forest spirits called Fauns. All three words are cognates of the name of the Greek god Pan, and panis is the Greek equivalent of fauna. Fauna is also the word for a book that catalogues the animals in such a manner. The term was first used by Linnaeus in the title of his 1746 work Fauna Suecica.

Subdivisions of fauna

Epifauna

Epifauna are animals that live upon the surface of sediments or soils.

Infauna

Infauna are aquatic animals that live within the bottom substratum rather than on its surface. Bacteria and microalgae may also live in the interstices of bottom sediments. On average, infaunal animals become progressively rarer with increasing water depth and distance from shore, whereas bacteria show more constancy in abundance, tending toward one billion cells per milliliter of interstitial seawater.

Macrofauna

Macrofauna are benthic or soil organisms which are at least one millimeter in length.

Megafauna

''Main article: Megafauna


Megafauna are large animals of any particular region or time. For example, Australian megafauna.

Meiofauna

Meiofauna are small benthic invertebrates that live in both marine and fresh water environments. The term Meiofauna loosely defines a group of organisms by their size, larger than microfauna but smaller than macrofauna, rather than a taxonomic grouping. In practice these are organisms that can pass through a 1 mm mesh but will be retained by a 45 μm mesh, but the exact dimensions will vary from researcher to researcher. Whether an organism will pass through a 1 mm mesh will also depend upon whether it is alive or dead at the time of sorting.

Mesofauna

Mesofauna are macroscopic soil invertebrates such as arthropods, earthworms, and nematodes.

Microfauna

Microfauna are microscopic or very small animals (usually including protozoans and very small animals such as rotifers).

Other

Other terms include avifauna, which means "bird fauna" and piscifauna (or ichthyofauna), which means "fish fauna".

Fauna treatises

Classic faunas

See also

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Elements of nature
EarthHistory of Earth Earth science Structure of the Earth Plate tectonics Geological history of Earth Geology
WeatherClimate Earth's atmosphere
LifeBiosphere Origin of life Microbe Plants Fungus Fauna Animals Biology Evolutionary history of life
EnvironmentWilderness Ecology Ecosystem
UniverseMatter Energy Extraterrestrial life Outer space
Project
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Fauna of Africa
Sovereign statesAlgeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Cte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda So Tom and Prncipe Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
Dependencies and
other territories		Canary Islands Ceuta Mayotte Melilla Puntland Runion St. Helena Socotra Somaliland Western Sahara
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Fauna of Asia
Sovereign states
and other territories		Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan1 Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China People's Republic of China (Hong Kong • Macau)] Republic of China (Taiwan) Cyprus Egypt1 Georgia1 India Indonesia1 Iran Iraq Israel (see also Palestinian territories) Japan Jordan Kazakhstan1 Korea (North Korea South Korea) Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Russia1 Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Timor-Leste (East Timor)1 Turkey1 Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen1
1Transcontinental nations
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Fauna of Europe
Sovereign statesAlbania Andorra Armenia1 Austria Azerbaijan2 Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus1 Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia2 Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan2 Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Republic of Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia3 San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey3 Ukraine United Kingdom
Dependencies,
autonomies, and
other territories		Abkhazia2 Adjara1 Akrotiri and Dhekelia land Azores Basque CountryCataloniaCrimea Faroe Islands Gagauzia Gibraltar Guernsey Jan Mayen Jersey Kosovo Man, Isle of Madeira4 Nagorno-Karabakh1 Nakhchivan1 Northern IrelandScotland South Ossetia2 Svalbard Transnistria Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus1, 5 Wales
1 Entirely in West Asia; included here because of cultural, political and historical association with Europe. 2 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the definition of the border between Europe and Asia. 3 Partially in Asia. 4 Entirely in the African Plate, included here because of cultural, political and historical association with Europe. 5 Only recognised by Turkey.
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Fauna of Oceania
Australasia Australia Norfolk Island Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands New Zealand
Melanesia East Timor Fiji Indonesia1 New Caledonia Papua New Guinea Solomon Islands Vanuatu
Micronesia Guam Kiribati Marshall Islands Northern Mariana Islands Federated States of Micronesia Nauru Palau
Polynesia American Samoa Cook Islands French Polynesia Niue Pitcairn Samoa Tokelau Tonga Tuvalu Wallis and Futuna
1 Transcontinental country
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Fauna of North America
Sovereign statesAntigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama* Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago* United States
Dependencies and
other territories		Anguilla Aruba* Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Navassa Island Netherlands Antilles* Puerto Rico Saint-Barthlemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Turks and Caicos Islands U. S. Virgin Islands
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Fauna of South America
Sovereign statesArgentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Panama* Paraguay Peru Suriname Trinidad and Tobago* Uruguay Venezuela
DependenciesAruba* (Netherlands) Falkland Islands (UK) French Guiana (France) Netherlands Antilles* (Netherlands) South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (UK)
Fauna is a collective term for animal life.

Fauna may also mean:
  • Fauna (goddess), an ancient Roman goddess
  • Fauna, Bloemfontein, a suburb of the South African city of Bloemfontein
  • Fauna Range, a hill range in Bundelkhand, India

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flora (plural: floras or florae) has two meanings. The first meaning, or flora of an area or of time period, refers to all plant life occurring in an area or time period, especially the naturally occurring or indigenous plant life.
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Zoology (from Greek: ζῴον, zoion, "animal"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is the biological discipline which involves the study of animals.
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Palaeontology redirects here. For the scientific journal, see Palaeontology (journal).


Paleontology, palaeontology or palæontology (from Greek: paleo, "ancient"; ontos
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Sonoran Desert (sometimes called the Gila Desert after the Gila River or the Low Desert in opposition to the higher Mojave Desert) is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S.
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The Burgess Shale, named after Burgess Pass, is a Cambrian black shale formation in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. In Yoho National Park, near the town of Field, the Burgess Shale contains a unique and famous fossil bed displaying exceptional preservation
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Faunal stages are subdivisions of rock layers used primarily by paleontologists who study fossils rather than by geologists who study rock formations. Typically, a faunal stage will consist of a series of rocks that contain similar fossils.
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In Roman mythology, Fauna is an alternate name for:
  • Bona Dea, was a goddess of fertility, healing, virginity and women. She may also be known as Marica.
  • Ops, a fertility deity and earth-goddess of Sabine origin.
  • Terra (goddess), the goddess of the Earth.

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In Roman mythology, Pan's counterpart Faunus was one of the oldest Roman deities, the di indigetes, who was a good spirit of the forest, plains, and fields; when he made cattle fertile he was called Inuus.
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fauns are place-spirits (genii) of untamed woodland. Romans connected their fauns with the Greek satyrs, wild and orgiastic drunken followers of Bacchus (Greek Dionysus). However, fauns and satyrs were originally quite different creatures.
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Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linné)

Carl von Linné, Alexander Roslin, 1775. Currently owned by and hanging at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
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Sediment is any particulate matter that can be transported by fluid flow and which eventually is deposited as a layer of solid particles on the bed or bottom of a body of water or other liquid. Sedimentation is the deposition by settling of a suspended material.
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SOiL is a five-piece Hard Rock band from Chicago, Illinois, United States. They formed in 1997 and are still active. They are signed to DRT Entertainment and have released four albums, their most recent being True Self which was released in March 27 2006.
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benthic zone is the lowest level of a body of water, such as an ocean or a lake. It is inhabited by organisms that live in close relationship with (if not physically attached to) the ground, called benthos or benthic organisms.
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Megafauna are species of large animals (Greek μεγας, large, + modern Latin fauna, animal). The standard definition includes animals with an average body weight exceeding 100 lb (44 kg) [1][2][3].
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Australian megafauna is a term used to describe a number of comparatively large animal species in Australia. These species became extinct during the Pleistocene (20,000-50,000 years before present), but exact dates for their extinction have been lacking until recently.
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benthic zone is the lowest level of a body of water, such as an ocean or a lake. It is inhabited by organisms that live in close relationship with (if not physically attached to) the ground, called benthos or benthic organisms.
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Invertebrate is an English word that describes any animal without a spinal column. The group includes 97% of all animal species — all animals except those in the Chordate subphylum Vertebrata (fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals).
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ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all the non-living physical factors of the environment.
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Plantae
  • Chromalveolata
  • Heterokontophyta
  • Haptophyta
  • Cryptophyta
  • Alveolata

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    • A mesh is similar to fabric or a web in that it has many connected or weaved pieces. In clothing, a mesh is often defined as a loosely woven fabric that has a large number of closely-spaced holes, frequently used for modern sports jerseys and other clothing.
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    Arthropoda
    Latreille, 1829

    Subphyla and Classes
    • Subphylum Trilobitomorpha
    • Trilobita - trilobites (extinct)
    • Subphylum Chelicerata

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    Lumbricina

    Families

      Acanthodrilidae
      Ailoscolecidae
      Alluroididae
      Almidae
      Criodrilidae
      Eudrilidae
      Exxidae
      Glossoscolecidae
      Lumbricidae
      Lutodrilidae
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    Nematoda
    Rudolphi, 1808

    Classes

    Adenophorea
       Subclass Enoplia
       Subclass Chromadoria
    Secernentea
       Subclass Rhabditia
       Subclass Spiruria
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    Protozoa (in Greek proto = first and zoa = animals) are one-celled eukaryotes (that is, unicellular microbes whose cells have membrane-bound nuclei) that commonly show characteristics usually associated with animals, mobility and heterotrophy.
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    Rotifera
    Cuvier, 1798

    Classes
    Monogononta
    Digononta
    The rotifers make up a phylum of microscopic and near-microscopic pseudocoelomate animals. They were first described by John Harris in 1696 (Hudson and Gosse, 1886).
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    Aves
    Linnaeus, 1758

    Orders

    About two dozen - see section below

    Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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    Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linné)

    Carl von Linné, Alexander Roslin, 1775. Currently owned by and hanging at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
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