The
Maltese Islands
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
, although small in area (316 km
2), host many
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 else ...
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
. This may make the organism
endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...
. These endemic species are important to the Maltese Islands because they form part of Maltese national heritage and are topics of scientific research.
Introduction
Of the 10,000 estimated
terrestrial
Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth.
Terrestrial may also refer to:
* Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...
and
freshwater species in the
Maltese archipelago
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
,
[Wildlife of the Maltese Islands, BirdLife Malte and Nature Trust, 1995.] 78 are endemic,
a large number considering the country's size. Only 4,500 species have so far been identified, and others still await correct
taxonomic classification
In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are give ...
,
which means that there may be several more endemic species yet to be discovered.
Twenty-three of the endemic species are
vascular plants
Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They ...
and plants such as
bryophyte
The Bryophyta s.l. are a proposed taxonomic division containing three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. Bryophyta s.s. consists of the mosses only. They are characteristically limited in s ...
s, while the remaining 55 species are
animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...
s.
Plants
Malta hosts around 860 plants of indigenous nature, occurring in the archipelago before man. Another 20 taxa are considered archaeophytes, being introduced through human intervention but having established themselves before 1500 AD A further 180 taxa are of uncertain origin, whilst at least 640 taxa are considered neophytes, having been introduced after 1500 AD, and may include casual alien species. Most importantly, at least 24 endemic vascular plants, and 18 vascular plants that are sub-endemic to the Mediterranean region.
Endemic vascular plants
Sub-endemic vascular plants
Animals
There are more endemic animals than plants in the Maltese Islands, they are often subspecies of species in nearby countries e.g. the
Sicilian shrew in
Gozo which has been defined as a
subspecies of its own. Endemic animal species include:
See also
*
Flora of Malta
Typical flora of Malta consist of the following plants. While small compared to other countries, the Maltese Islands contain flowers that grow on Malta, Gozo, Comino, Filfla, St Paul's Islands and Fungus Rock. Many of the species are endemic to Ma ...
*
List of birds of Malta
This is a list of the bird species recorded in Malta. The avifauna of Malta include a total of 420 species. It lies on a major migration route and many species pass through during spring and autumn. Two have been introduced by humans.
This list ...
*
List of mammals of Malta
This is a list of the mammal species recorded in Malta. There are twenty mammal species in Malta, of which one is critically endangered.
The following tags are used to highlight each species' conservation status as assessed by the International Un ...
References
{{reflist
Biota of Malta
malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...