Central America is a subregion of North America. It's political boundaries are defined as bordering United States & the Gulf of Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea & the Gulf of Mexico to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually defined as consisting of eight countries: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico and Panama. Within Central America is the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot, which extends from southern Mexico to southeastern Panama. Due to the presence of several active geologic faults and the Central America Volcanic Arc, there is a high amount of seismic activity in the region, such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, which has resulted in death, injury, and property damage.
Dieffenbachia, commonly known as dumb caneorleopard lily, is a genus of tropical flowering plants in the family Araceae. It is native to the New World Tropics from Mexico and the West Indies south to Argentina. Some species are widely cultivated as ornamental plants, especially as houseplants, and have become naturalized on a few tropical islands.
Zamia is a genus of cycad of the family Zamiaceae, native to North America from the United States throughout the West Indies, Central America, and South America as far south as Bolivia. The genus is considered to be the most ecologically and morphologically diverse of the cycads, and is estimated to have originated about 68.3 million years ago.
Pouteria is a genus of flowering trees in the gutta-percha family, Sapotaceae. The genus is widespread throughout the tropical Americas, with outlier species in Cameroon and Malesia. It includes the canistel, the mamey sapote, and the lucuma. Commonly, this genus is known as pouteria trees, or in some cases, eggfruits.
Tantilla is a large genus of harmless New World snakes in the family Colubridae. The genus includes 66 species, which are commonly known as centipede snakes, black-headed snakes, and flathead snakes.
The red-throated ant tanager is a medium-sized passerine bird. This species is a resident breeder on the Caribbean slopes from southeastern Mexico to eastern Panama. It was usually considered an aberrant kind of tanager and placed in the Thraupidae, but is actually closer to the cardinals (Cardinalidae). Consequently, it can be argued that referring to the members of this genus as ant tanagers is misleading, but no other common name has gained usage.
Psalmopoeus is a genus of the family Theraphosidae containing various species of tarantulas. The genus is native to Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil, Belize, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. All of these tarantulas are arboreal in nature, Psalmopoeus victori being the first arboreal tarantula of Mexico.
Reinhardtia is a genus in the palm family native to the northern Neotropics. It is a primarily Central American genus with five species distributed between southern Mexico and the extreme north of Colombia, and one isolated species, Reinhardtia paiewonskiana in the southwest of the Dominican Republic.
Desmoncus is a genus of mostly climbing, spiny palms native to the Neotropics. The genus extends from Mexico in the north to Brazil and Bolivia in the south, with two species present in the southeastern Caribbean.
Brunellia is a genus of trees. They are distributed in the mountainous regions of southern Mexico, Central America, West Indies, and South America. Brunellia is the only genus in the family Brunelliaceae. As of 2001 there were about 54 species.
The Central America bioregion is a biogeographic region comprising southern Mexico and Central America.
Cycnoches, abbreviated as Cyc. in the horticultural trade, is a genus of 34 currently accepted species of orchids native to South America, Central America and southern Mexico. Also called "swan orchids", they are epiphytes found in lowland and pre-montane forests.
Citharexylum is a genus of flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. It contains shrub and tree species commonly known as fiddlewoods or zitherwoods. They are native to the Americas, ranging from southern Florida and Texas in the United States to Argentina. The highest diversity occurs in Mexico and the Andes. The generic name is derived from the Greek words κιθάρα (kithara), meaning "lyre", and ξύλον (xylon), meaning "wood," referring to the use of the wood in the sounding boards of string instruments. Several species, especially C. caudatum and C. spinosum, are cultivated as ornamentals.
- Citharexylum affineD.Don - from northern Mexico to Nicaragua
- Citharexylum alainiiMoldenke - Dominican Republic
- Citharexylum albicauleTurcz. - Cuba
- Citharexylum altamiranumGreenm. - northeastern Mexico
- Citharexylum andinumMoldenke - Bolivia, Jujuy Province of Argentina
- Citharexylum argutedentatumMoldenke - Peru
- Citharexylum berlandieriB.L. Rob. - from Texas to Oaxaca - Berlandier's fiddlewood, Tamaulipan fiddlewood
- Citharexylum bourgeauanumGreenm. - Veracruz, Oaxaca
- Citharexylum brachyanthum(A.Gray ex Hemsl.) A.Gray - Texas, Coahuila, Nuevo León - Boxthorn fiddlewood, Mexican fiddlewood
- Citharexylum bullatumMoldenke - Colombia
- Citharexylum calvumMoldenke - Quintana Roo
- Citharexylum caudatumL. - southern Mexico, West Indies, Central America, Colombia, Peru - Juniper berry
- Citharexylum chartaceumMoldenke - Peru, Ecuador
- Citharexylum cooperiStandl. - Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala
- Citharexylum costaricenseMoldenke - Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras
- Citharexylum crassifoliumGreenm - Chiapas, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras
- Citharexylum daniraeLeón de la Luz & F.Chiang - Revillagigedo Islands of Baja California
- Citharexylum decorumMoldenke - Colombia, Venezuela
- Citharexylum dentatumD.Don - Peru
- Citharexylum discolorTurcz. - Cuba, Hispaniola
- Citharexylum donnell-smithiiGreenm. - Oaxaca, Chiapas, Central America
- Citharexylum dryanderaeMoldenke - Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador
- Citharexylum ekmaniiMoldenke - Cuba
- Citharexylum ellipticumMoc. & Sessé ex D.Don - Veracruz, Campeche, Tabasco; naturalized in Cuba + Cayman Islands
- Citharexylum endlichiiMoldenke - northeastern Mexico
- Citharexylum flabellifoliumS.Watson - Sonora, Baja California
- Citharexylum flexuosum(Ruiz & Pav.) D.Don - Bolivia, Peru
- Citharexylum fulgidumMoldenke - Veracruz, northeastern Mexico
- Citharexylum gentryiMoldenke - Ecuador
- Citharexylum glabrum(S.Watson) Greenm - Oaxaca
- Citharexylum glazioviiMoldenke - eastern Brazil
- Citharexylum grandiflorumAymard & Rueda - Ecuador
- Citharexylum guatemalense(Moldenke) D.N.Gibson - Guatemala, Nicaragua
- Citharexylum herreraeMansf. - Peru
- Citharexylum hexangulareGreenm. - from northern Mexico to Costa Rica
- Citharexylum hidalgenseMoldenke - Mexico
- Citharexylum hintoniiMoldenke - México State
- Citharexylum hirtellumStandl. - from Veracruz to Panama
- Citharexylum ilicifoliumKunth - Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador
- Citharexylum iltisiiMoldenke - Peru
- Citharexylum × jamaicenseMoldenke - Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico (C. caudatum × C. spinosum)
- Citharexylum joergensenii(Lillo) Moldenke - Argentina, Bolivia
- Citharexylum karsteniiMoldenke - Colombia, Venezuela
- Citharexylum kerberiGreenm. - Veracruz
- Citharexylum kobuskianumMoldenke - Peru
- Citharexylum krukoviiMoldenke - eastern Brazil
- Citharexylum kunthianumMoldenke - Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador
- Citharexylum laetumHiern - southern Brazil
- Citharexylum laurifoliumHayek - Bolivia, Peru
- Citharexylum lemsiiMoldenke - Guanacaste Province in Costa Rica
- Citharexylum × leonisMoldenke - Cuba (C. caudatum × C. tristachyum)
- Citharexylum ligustrifolium(Thur. ex Decne.) Van Houtte - Mexico
- Citharexylum lojenseMoldenke - Ecuador
- Citharexylum lucidumCham. & Schltdl. - Mexico
- Citharexylum lycioidesD.Don - Mexico
- Citharexylum macradeniumGreenm. - Panama, Costa Rica
- Citharexylum macrochlamysPittier - Panama, Colombia
- Citharexylum macrophyllumPoir. - Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guianas, northwestern Brazil
- Citharexylum matheanumBorhidi & Kereszty - Cuba
- Citharexylum matudaeMoldenke - Chiapas
- Citharexylum mexicanumMoldenke - Veracruz, Puebla, Oaxaca
- Citharexylum microphyllum(DC.) O.E.Schulz - Hisipaniola
- Citharexylum mirifoliumMoldenke - Colombia, Venezuela
- Citharexylum mocinoiD.Don - Mexico, Central America
- Citharexylum montanumMoldenke - Colombia, Ecuador
- Citharexylum montevidense(Spreng.) Moldenke - Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay
- Citharexylum myrianthumCham. - Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay
- Citharexylum obtusifoliumKuhlm - Espírito Santo
- Citharexylum oleinum Moldenke - Mexico
- Citharexylum ovatifoliumGreenm. - Mexico
- Citharexylum pachyphyllumMoldenke - Peru
- Citharexylum pernambucenseMoldenke - eastern Brazil
- Citharexylum poeppigiiWalp. - Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil
- Citharexylum punctatumGreenm. - Bolivia, Peru
- Citharexylum quercifoliumHayek - Peru
- Citharexylum quitenseSpreng. - Ecuador
- Citharexylum racemosumSessé & Moc. - Mexico
- Citharexylum reticulatumKunth - Ecuador, Peru
- Citharexylum rigidum(Briq.) Moldenke - Paraguay, southern Brazil
- Citharexylum rimbachiiMoldenke - Ecuador
- Citharexylum roseiGreenm. - Mexico
- Citharexylum roxanaeMoldenke - Baja California
- Citharexylum scabrumMoc. & Sessé ex D.Don - northern Mexico
- Citharexylum schottiiGreenm. - southern Mexico, Central America
- Citharexylum schulziiUrb. & Ekman - Hispaniola
- Citharexylum sessaeiD.Don - Mexico
- Citharexylum shreveiMoldenke - Sonora
- Citharexylum solanaceumCham. - southern Brazil
- Citharexylum spinosumL. – Spiny fiddlewood - West Indies, Panama, Venezuela, the Guianas; naturalized in India, Mozambique, Fiji, Bermuda
- Citharexylum stenophyllumUrb. & Ekman - Haiti
- Citharexylum steyermarkiiMoldenke - Veracruz, Chiapas, Guatemala
- Citharexylum suberosumLoes. ex Moldenke - Cuba
- Citharexylum subflavescensS.F.Blake - Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru
- Citharexylum subthyrsoideumPittier - Colombia, Venezuela
- Citharexylum subtruncatumMoldenke - northwestern Brazil
- Citharexylum sulcatumMoldenke - Colombia
- Citharexylum svensoniiMoldenke - Ecuador
- Citharexylum teclenseStandl. - El Salvador
- Citharexylum ternatumMoldenke - Cuba
- Citharexylum tetramerumBrandegee - Valle de Tehuacán-Cuicatlán in Mexico
- Citharexylum tristachyumTurcz. – Threespike Fiddlewood - Cuba, Jamaica, Leeward Islands
- Citharexylum uleiMoldenke - Colombia, Peru, northwestern Brazil
- Citharexylum vallenseMoldenke - Colombia
- Citharexylum venezuelenseMoldenke - Venezuela
- Citharexylum weberbaueriHayek - Peru
Coccineorchis is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It contains 7 accepted species, native to Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
- Coccineorchis bracteosa(Ames & C.Schweinf.) Garay - Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Ecuador
- Coccineorchis cernua(Lindl.) Garay - Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
- Coccineorchis cristataSzlach., Rutk. & Mytnik - Panama
- Coccineorchis dressleriSzlach., Rutk. & Mytnik - Panama
- Coccineorchis navarrensis(Ames) Garay - Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Colombia
- Coccineorchis standleyi(Ames) Garay - Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Colombia, Honduras
- Coccineorchis warszewiczianaSzlach. - Costa Rica
Papilio menatius is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae.
The Meso-American slider is a species of turtle belonging to the family Emydidae. The species is distributed from Mexico to Colombia.
Marpesia is a butterfly genus in the family Nymphalidae. The species of this genus are found in the Neotropical and Nearctic realms.
Oreodera is a genus of long-horned beetles in the family Cerambycidae. Oreodera is in the subfamily Lamiinae, the flat-faced longhorns. There are more than 100 described species in Oreodera, found in Central and South America.
Napeogenes is a genus of clearwing (ithomiine) butterflies, named by Henry Walter Bates in 1862. They are in the brush-footed butterfly family, Nymphalidae.
Symmachia is a genus in the butterfly family Riodinidae present only in the Neotropical realm.
