''Chimantaea'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of flowering plants in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

. This genus''Chimantaea''.
The Plant List. is

endemic 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 elsew ...

to the Pantepui,Rull, V. (2004)
Biogeography of the 'Lost World': a palaeoecological perspective.
''Earth-Science Reviews'' 67(1), 125-37. a

biogeographic province This page features a list of biogeographic provinces that were developed by Miklos Udvardy in 1975,Udvardy, M. D. F. (1975). ''A classification of the biogeographical provinces of the world''. IUCN Occasional Paper no. 18. Morges, Switzerland: IUCN ...

on the

Guiana Highlands The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France * G ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

, and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

.Désamoré, A., et al. (2010)
Biogeography of the Lost World (Pantepui region, northeastern South America): insights from bryophytes.
''Phytotaxa'' 9, 254-65. The region is characterized by a pattern of about 50

tepui A tepui , or tepuy (), is a table-top mountain or mesa found in South America, especially in Venezuela and western Guyana. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the Pemon, the indigenous people who inhabit the Gran S ...

s, isolated tabletop mountains that arise from the

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

of the highlands. Tepuis are known for their

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

, especially their concentrations of endemic species, and most are still pristine, undisturbed ecosystems. The genus is almost entirely restricted to the

Chimantá Massif The Chimantá Massif is a highly fragmented complex of tepuis in Bolívar state, Venezuela. The massif comprises around 11 tepuis and has a total summit area of and an estimated slope area of .Huber, O. (1995). Geographical and physical feature ...

, a complex of several of these tepuis in Bolívar, Venezuela. There several species of the genus are dominant members of the higher-elevation

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

s, which are known as paramoid vegetation because of their similarity to the

páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

s of the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

.Rull, V. (2004)
An evaluation of the Lost World and Vertical Displacement hypotheses in the Chimantá massif, Venezuelan Guayana.
''Global Ecology and Biogeography'' 13(2), 141-48. ; Species All the species are endemic to Venezuela.Flann, C (ed) 2009+ Global Compositae Checklist

References

Asteraceae genera Wunderlichioideae Flora of Venezuela Flora of the Tepuis {{Asteraceae-stub