Central America is a region of the Americas. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south. Central America consists of seven countries: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. The combined population is estimated at 44.53 million (2016).
Ceiba is a genus of trees in the family Malvaceae, native to tropical and subtropical areas of the Americas and tropical West Africa. Some species can grow to 70 m (230 ft) tall or more, with a straight, largely branchless trunk that culminates in a huge, spreading canopy, and buttress roots that can be taller than a grown person. The best-known, and most widely cultivated, species is Kapok, Ceiba pentandra, one of several trees called kapok.
Bombacaceae were long recognised as a family of flowering plants or Angiospermae. The family name was based on the type genus Bombax. As is true for many botanical names, circumscription and status of the taxon has varied with taxonomic point of view, and currently the preference is to transfer most of the erstwhile family Bombacaceae to the subfamily Bombacoideae within the family Malvaceae in the order Malvales. The rest of the family were transferred to other taxa, notably the new family Durionaceae. Irrespective of current taxonomic status, many of the species originally included in the Bombacaceae are of considerable ecological, historical, horticultural, and economic importance, such as balsa, kapok, baobab and durian.
The Cabo Blanco Absolute Natural Reserve is a Nature Reserve of Costa Rica, part of the Tempisque Conservation Area in the province of Puntarenas, covering an area of 3,140 acres (12.7 km2) terrestrial and 4,420 acres (17.9 km2) marine on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula near Mal Pais.
Schinopsis balansae is a hardwood tree known as willow-leaf red quebracho which forms forests in the subtropical Gran Chaco ecoregion of north-eastern Argentina, and Paraguay. It is also found in the wild Pantanal vegetation in Brazil. Some of its vernacular names are quebracho colorado chaqueño and quebracho santafesino. Other species, like Schinopsis lorentzii, bear the general name quebracho and have similar properties and uses. S. balansae shares its habitat with a species of the same genus, S. heterophylla, and the two are often confused.
Bombacopsis is a genus in the family Malvaceae native to Central America and northern South America.
The great green macaw, also known as Buffon's macaw or the great military macaw, is a Central and South American parrot found in Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador. Two allopatric subspecies are recognized; the nominate subspecies, Ara ambiguus ssp. ambiguus, occurs from Honduras to Colombia, while Ara ambiguus ssp. guayaquilensis appears to be endemic to remnants of dry forests on the southern Pacific coast of Ecuador. The nominate subspecies lives in the canopy of wet tropical forests and in Costa Rica is usually associated with the almendro tree, Dipteryx oleifera.
Barbudal Hillocks Biological Reserve is a nature reserve of Costa Rica, part of the Arenal Tempisque Conservation Area, that covers an area of 6,536 acres (26 km2) in the Guanacaste Province, 15 kilometers southwest of Bagaces. The Barbudal hillocks are an ignimbritic plateaux which end in rocky cliffs that rise to 125 metres above the Tempisque River.
Pachira aquatica is a tropical wetland tree in the mallow family Malvaceae, native to Central and South America where it grows in swamps. It is known by its nonscientific names Malabar chestnut, French peanut, Guiana chestnut, Provision tree, Saba nut, Monguba (Brazil), Pumpo (Guatemala) and is commercially sold under the names Money tree and Money plant. This tree is sometimes sold with a braided trunk and is commonly grown as a houseplant, although more commonly what is sold as a "Pachira aquatica" houseplant is in fact a similar species, P. glabra.
Pseudomyrmex spinicola is a species of red myrmecophyte-inhabiting neotropical ants which are found only in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. They live in the thorns of a tropical trees like Acacia collinsii or Acacia allenii, feeding on nectaries along with the protein and lipid-rich beltian bodies. These bodies are named for Thomas Belt, a naturalist who first described the interactions between acacias and ants in his 1874 book Naturalist in Nicaragua. Belt's book in fact described ants of this species, then unknown.
Manicaria is a palm genus which is found in Trinidad, Central and South America. It contains two recognized species:
- Manicaria martianaBurret – Colombia, northwestern Brazil
- Manicaria sacciferaGaertn. – Central America, Trinidad, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, northwestern Brazil
Balfourodendron riedelianum, known as Marfim in Portuguese, is a species of flowering tree in the rue family, Rutaceae. It is native to Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.
Cedrela tonduzii is a monoecious tree that grows up to 40 m and can reach a diameter at breast height of up to 180 cm, but generally averages 80 cm.
Tabebuia rosea, also called pink poui, and rosy trumpet tree is a neotropical tree that grows up to 30 m (98 ft) and can reach a diameter at breast height of up to 100 cm (3 ft). The Spanish name roble de sabana, meaning "savannah oak", is widely used in Costa Rica, probably because it often remains in heavily deforested areas and because of the resemblance of its wood to that of oak trees. It is the national tree of El Salvador, where it is called "Maquilíshuat".
Ilex, or holly, is a genus of about 480 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. The species are evergreen or deciduous trees, shrubs, and climbers from tropics to temperate zones worldwide. The type species is Ilex aquifolium, the common European holly used in Christmas decorations and cards.
Pachira is a genus of tropical trees distributed in Central and South America, Africa and India. They are classified in the subfamily Bombacoideae of the family Malvaceae. Previously the genus was assigned to Bombacaceae. Prior to that the genus was found in the Sterculiaceae.
Indigenous people of Costa Rica, or Native Costa Ricans, are the people who lived in what is now Costa Rica prior to European and African contact and the descendants of those peoples. About 114,000 indigenous people live in the country, comprising 2.4% of the total population. Indigenous Costa Ricans strive to keep their cultural traditions and language alive.
El Ostional is a coastal town on the Pacific Ocean, in the municipality of San Juan del Sur and Rivas department in south-west Nicaragua. It is located 170 kilometers south of Managua and 10.5 kilometers from the border with Costa Rica. The region consists of the communities of Monte Cristo and San Antonio. El Ostional is becoming recognized as a quaint spot for voluntourism, sport fishing, birdwatching, turtle, dolphin, and whale watching, Cultural heritage events and is a vacation spot for Nicaraguan families and foreign tourists interested in immersing themselves in rural community life.
Titaea tamerlan is a moth of the family Saturniidae found in Central and South America.
The Eastern Panamanian montane forests (NT0122) is an ecoregion in the east of Panama and the extreme northwest of Colombia. It contains diverse flora and fauna, with considerable endemism. The ecoregion is largely intact due to its inaccessibility, although the opening of an extension of the Pan-American Highway has introduced threats from human activity.
