ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the Austral kingdom to provide an appropriate context for the classification of the Andean region. It provides examples of taxa endemic and characteristic of the kingdom and discusses the biotic relationships of the regions assigned to it. Several animals are endemic to the Austral kingdom. Some studies provided contrasting proposals to explain the biotic connections between the southern continents assigned to the Austral kingdom, basically favoring vicariance or dispersal explanations. The chapter also provides a geological account of the Austral areas and a geological area cladogram summarizing their relationships. It presents specific reference to an event-based biogeographic analysis of the Austral kingdom. Moreira-Munoz analyzed the floristic similarity of the Austral areas based on genera of vascular plants suggesting the existence of an ancient flora in the areas tied to ancient paleogeographical events.
