Endemism
Species unique to a location or habitat / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere.[1] For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be endemic to that particular part of the world.[2]



An endemic species can be also be referred to as an endemism or in scientific literature as an endemite. For example Cytisus aeolicus is an endemite of the Italian flora.[3] Adzharia renschi was once believed to be an endemite of the Caucasus, but it was later discovered to be a non-indigenous species from South America belonging to a different genus.[4]
The extreme opposite of an endemic species is one with a cosmopolitan distribution, having a global or widespread range.[1]
A rare alternative term for a species that is endemic is "precinctive", which applies to species (and other taxonomic levels) that are restricted to a defined geographical area.[5] Other terms that sometimes are used interchangeably, but less often, include autochthonal, autochthonic, and indigenous, however these terms do not reflect the status of a species that specifically belongs only to a determined place.