The Tamá Massif () is a group of mountains on the border between Colombia and Venezuela to the south of

Lake Maracaibo Lake Maracaibo () is located in northwestern Venezuela, between the states of Zulia, Trujillo, and Mérida. While Maracaibo is commonly referred to as a lake, its current hydrological characteristics may better classify it as estuary and/or ...

. It contains evergreen rainforest and

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

at the lower levels, and

páramo Páramo () may 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 (high moors) at the highest levels.

Location

The Tamá is a prolongation of the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes. It is separated from the

Cordillera de Mérida The Cordillera de Mérida is a mountain range, or massif, in northwestern Venezuela. The Cordillera de Mérida is a northeastern extension of the Andes Mountains and the most important branch of the Venezuelan Andes. The range runs approximately 4 ...

in the

Venezuelan Andes The Venezuelan Andes (Spanish: ''Andes Venezolanos'') also simply known as the Andes (Spanish: ''Los Andes'') in Venezuela, are a mountain system that form the northernmost extension of the Andes. They are fully identified, both by their geologi ...

by the

Táchira depression Táchira State (, ) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, states of Venezuela. The state capital is San Cristóbal, Táchira, San Cristóbal. Táchira State covers a total surface area of and as of the 2011 census, had a population of 1,168,9 ...

, which more than 50 million years ago was a strait that connected

with the

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

basin. Elevations range from . Average annual temperature is . Average annual rainfall is . The

Tamá National Natural Park The Tamá National Natural Park () is a national park located in the Tamá Massif of the Andean Region of Colombia, between the municipalities Toledo and Herrán, in the department of Norte de Santander, in the northeastern part of the Eastern R ...

in Colombia and the

El Tamá National Park The El Tamá National Park () It is a protected area with the status of a national park that is located between the Andes and plains of Venezuela. It protects part of the Tamá Massif. It has an area of and is located in the states of Táchira (1 ...

in Venezuela protect parts of the Tamá Massif. The two parks together form a protected area of .

Geography

The Tamá massif is a set of folded mountain ranges with extremely steep topography. It contains the El Tamá páramos (high moors) at an elevation of , Cerro El Cobre at and Cerro Judío at . The mountains are mainly of limestone or sandstone rock, typical of the

Guiana Shield The Guiana Shield (; ; ; ) is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a 1.7 billion-year-old Precambrian geological formation in northeast South America that forms a portion of the northern coast. The higher elevations on ...

. The Tamá National Natural Park contains an waterfall one of the world's highest. The páramos give rise to rivers such as the Carapo, Chiquito, Quinimarí, Quite, Burguita, Burga, Nula, Nulital,

Sarare Sarare is a town in the Venezuelan state of Lara. It is the seat of the Simón Planas Municipality. The town and surroundings have about 12535 inhabitants. It is located on the shores of the Sarare River, which flows into the Orinoco The Ori ...

, Cutufí, Oirá, Frío and Negro, which drain into the Orinoco basin or into Lake Maracaibo. The

Táchira River The Táchira River is a river located in Táchira and it divides the border that exists between Venezuela and Colombia in that western state. The Simón Bolívar International Bridge across the Táchira River connects the city of San Antonio de ...

, which drains into Lake Maracaibo, forms part of the border between Colombia and Venezuela.

Environment

Tamá has four types of natural environments: tropical rainforest, sub-Andean forest, Andean forest and

. The forests are included in the

Venezuelan Andes montane forests The Venezuelan Andes montane forests (NT0175) is an ecoregion in the northern arm of the Andes in Venezuela. It contains montane and cloud forests, reaching up to the high-level Cordillera de Merida páramo high moor ecoregion. The forests are hom ...

ecoregion, which also covers the Venezuelan Andean cordillera. The vegetation between is dense evergreen rainforest of medium height with two or three arboreal strata. There is a well-developed understory and many

epiphyte An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphyt ...

s. Forest species include the colorful '' Lagenanthus princeps''. In the páramos the plant species are of the genera ''

Jamesonia ''Jamesonia'' is a genus of ferns in the subfamily Pteridoideae of the family Pteridaceae. It now includes the formerly separate genus ''Eriosorus''. Description Species of ''Jamesonia'' are terrestrial or grow on rocks. They vary considerably ...

'', '' Oreobulus'', ''

Castilleja ''Castilleja'', commonly known as paintbrush, Indian paintbrush, or prairie-fire, is a genus of about 200 species of Annual plant, annual and Perennial plant, perennial mostly herbaceous plants native to the west of the Americas from Alaska sout ...

'', ''

Gentiana ''Gentiana'' () is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the gentian family (Gentianaceae), the tribe Gentianeae, and the monophyletic subtribe Gentianinae. With over 300 species, it is considered a large genus. Gentians are notable for their ...

'', ''

Halenia ''Halenia'' (spurred gentian) is a genus of plant in family Gentianaceae. It contains the following species (but this list may be incomplete): * '' Halenia alleniana'', Standl. ex Wilbur * '' Halenia aquilegiella'', Standl. * '' Halenia brevico ...

'', ''

Pinguicula ''Pinguicula'', commonly known as butterworts, is a genus of carnivorous flowering plants in the family Lentibulariaceae. They use sticky, glandular leaves to lure, trap, and digest insects in order to supplement the poor mineral nutrition they ...

'', ''

Utricularia ''Utricularia'', commonly and collectively called the bladderworts, is a genus of carnivorous plants consisting of approximately 233 species (precise counts differ based on classification opinions; a 2001 publication lists 215 species).Salmon, B ...

'', ''

Castratella ''Castratella'' is a genus of flowering plant belonging to the family Melastomataceae Melastomataceae () is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants found mostly in the tropics (two-thirds of the genera are from the New World tropics) com ...

'' and ''

Vaccinium ''Vaccinium'' is a common and widespread genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the heath family (Ericaceae). The fruits of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry (wh ...

''. Mammals include the

spectacled bear The spectacled bear (''Tremarctos ornatus''), also known as the South American bear, Andean bear, Andean short-faced bear or mountain bear and locally as jukumari ( Aymara and Quechua), ukumari ( Quechua) or ukuku, is a species of bear native to ...

(''Tremarctos ornatus''),

tapir Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a Suidae, pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk (proboscis). Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, South and Centr ...

lowland paca The lowland paca (''Cuniculus paca''), also known as the spotted paca, is a large rodent found in tropical and sub-tropical America, from east-central Mexico to northern Argentina, and has been introduced to Cuba and Algeria. The animal is call ...

(''Cuniculus paca''),

anteater Anteaters are the four extant mammal species in the suborder Vermilingua (meaning "worm tongue"), commonly known for eating ants and termites. The individual species have other names in English and other languages. Together with sloths, they ar ...

and

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted Felidae, wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, Central and South America, ...

(''Leopardus pardalis''). The endemic

wood sprite gracile opossum The wood sprite gracile opossum (''Gracilinanus dryas'') is a mammal. It is a species of opossum in the family Didelphidae. It is found in Colombia and Venezuela. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threat ...

(''Gracilinanus dryas'') and Luis Manuel's tailless bat (''Anoura luismanueli'') are found in both the Andean Cordillera and the Tamá Massif. Restricted range bird species in the Tamá massif include Táchira antpitta (''Grallaria chthonia''),

hooded antpitta The hooded antpitta (''Grallaricula cucullata'') is a Near Threatened species of bird in the family Grallariidae. It is found in Colombia and Venezuela. Taxonomy and systematics The hooded antpitta was originally described in 1856 as ''Conop ...

(''Grallaricula cucullata'') and

Venezuelan wood quail The Venezuelan wood quail (''Odontophorus columbianus'') is a bird species in the family Odontophoridae, the New World quail. It is found in the Venezuelan Coastal Range. Taxonomy and systematics Some authors have suggested that the Venezuela ...

(''Odontophorus columbianus'').

Tamá harlequin frog ''Atelopus tamaense'', the Tamá harlequin frog or Venezuela stubfoot toad, is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is endemic to the Páramo de Tamá on the Venezuelan-Colombian border and occurs in Apure and (likely) Táchira states of ...

and Helena's marsupial frog are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to the Páramo de Tamá.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tama Massif Mountain ranges of the Andes Mountain ranges of Venezuela Mountain ranges of Colombia