The Central Highlands, Central High Plateau, or Hauts-Plateaux are a mountainous biogeographical region in central

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. They include the contiguous part of the island's interior above 800 m (2,600 ft) altitude. The Central Highlands are separated from the

Northern Highlands The Northern Highlands are a mountainous biogeographical region of northern Madagascar. The region includes the Tsaratanana Massif (with the highest mountain of Madagascar, Maromokotro) and smaller nearby massifs such as Marojejy, Anjanaharibe-Su ...

of the northern tip of Madagascar by a low-lying valley, the

Mandritsara Window Mandritsara is a city and commune (commune urbain, mg, kaominina) in northern Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Mandritsara, which is a part of Sofia Region. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 17,000 in 2001 ...

, which has apparently acted as a barrier to dispersal for species in the highlands, leading to

species pair In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

s such as ''

Voalavo gymnocaudus The northern voalavo (''Voalavo gymnocaudus''), also known as the naked-tailed voalavo or simply the voalavo, is a rodent in the family Nesomyidae found in the Northern Highlands of Madagascar. Discovered in 1994 and formally described in 1998, it ...

'' and ''

Voalavo antsahabensis The eastern voalavo (''Voalavo antsahabensis'') is a rodent in the family Nesomyidae which occurs in the Anjozorobe forest of eastern Madagascar. Although surveys before 2002 failed to record the species, it is common in some places. However, it i ...

'' in the Northern and Central Highlands. Species restricted to the Central Highlands include the bats '' Miniopterus manavi'' and '' Miniopterus sororculus''; the rodents '' Brachyuromys betsileoensis'' and ''Voalavo antsahabensis''; the tenrecs '' Hemicentetes nigriceps'' and '' Oryzorictes tetradactylus''; and the lemur '' Cheirogaleus sibreei''. Because of the continuous habitat of the Central Highlands, there is little local

endemism 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 ...

, unlike the Northern Highlands.Goodman et al., 2006, p. 395

Notes

References

*Bronner, G.N. & Jenkins, P.D. 2005. Order Afrosoricida. Pp. 71–81 in Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (eds.)
''Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference. 3rd ed''
Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols., 2142 pp. *Garbutt, N. 2007. Mammals of Madagascar: A Complete Guide. London: A & C Black, 304 pp. *Goodman, S.M., Rakotondravony, D., Randriamanantsoa, H.N. and Rakotomalala-Razanahoera, M. 2005. A new species of rodent from the montane forest of central eastern Madagascar (Muridae: Nesomyinae: ''Voalavo''). ''Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington'' 118(4):863–873. *Goodman, S.M., Raxworthy, C.J., Maminirina, C.P. and Olson, L.E. 2006. A new species of shrew tenrec (''Microgale jobihely'') from northern Madagascar. ''Journal of Zoology'' 270:384–398. *Goodman, S.M., Ryan, K.E., Maminirina, C.P., Fahr, J., Christidis, L. and Appleton, B. 2007. Specific status of populations on Madagascar referred to ''Miniopterus fraterculus'' (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae), with description of a new species. ''Journal of Mammalogy'' 88(5):1216–1229. *Goodman, S.M., Maminirina, C.P., Bradman, H.M., Christidis, L. and Appleton, B. 2009
The use of molecular phylogenetic and morphological tools to identify cryptic and paraphyletic species: Examples from the diminutive long-fingered bats (Chiroptera: Miniopteridae: ''Miniopterus'') on Madagascar
''American Museum Novitates'' 3669:1–34. *Musser, G.G. and Carleton, M.D. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894–1531 in Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (eds.)
''Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference. 3rd ed''
Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols., 2142 pp. Natural regions Biogeography Geography of Madagascar Natural history of Madagascar Highlands {{Madagascar-geo-stub