NEOTROPICAL
(SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICAN)
Temperate Broadleaf-Mixed Forests & Woodlands
The forests of southern South America include the most southerly forests in the world..
The forests here include the Valdivian temperate rainforest of the central coast of Chile, and the Magellanic subpolar forests of southern Chile and Argentina.
Darwin's Fungus (Tierra del Fuego National Park, Argentina)Cyttaria darwinii, 'Darwin's Fungus'. Grows on Nothofagus Beech trees. The tree reacts by developing large galls (the wooden round lumps erupting from tree trunks), on which the fungus may produce it's fruiting body; these look like golf balls. They are edible, but apparently tasteless. The common name is because it was first collected by Charles Darwin.
Daisy, (Tierra del Fuego national park, Argentina)
Dragonfly, (Tierra del Fuego national park, Argentina)Class Aves: Birds
Family Tyrannidae
(Ushuaia, Argentina)Xolmis pyrope, 'Fire-eyed Diucon'. Distinctive bright red eyes.
Family Furnariidae
Thorn-tailed Rayadito, (Tierra del Fuego National Park)Aphrastura spinicauda, 'Thorn-tailed Rayadtio'. Common bird of the southern forests and shrublands of southern South America.
Family Thraupidae: 'Tanagers'
Phrygilus spp. 'Sierra-Finches'
Sierra Finches are not finches, but in the tanager family. The four species are found in southern South America and in the Andes mountains.
Patagonian Sierra Finch (Tierra del Fuego)Phrygilus patagonicus, 'Patagonian Sierra Finch'. Found in temperate forests of southern South America.
Places to experience the temperate forests of southern South America
Tiera del Fuego National Park is in the extreme south of Argentina. It is a short drive from Ushuaia, and a convenient place to explore before or after a trip to Antarctica; it will be your last chance to see flowers, insects and songbirds!
