Boundaries

This ecoregion extends along the Vietnam coast east of the Annamite Range between (and excluding) Dong Nai in the south to the Deo Hai Van Pass in the north.

Terrestrial habitats

This ecoregion is composed of Southern Vietnam lowland dry forests, Northern Vietnam lowland rain forests, Northern Annamites rain forests, Southern Annamites montane rain forests, and Southeastern Indochina dry evergreen forests (Wikramanayake et al. 2002).

Description of endemic fishes

There are around eight recorded endemics, most of which are in the family Balitoridae. Some of these include Sewellia pterolineata, S. marmorata and Schistura thanho, which are endangered, and Nemacheilus banar, which is vulnerable according the IUCN Red List (IUCN 2012).

Justification for delineation

For Southeast Asia, delineations were determined using a bottom-up approach that employed both published and unpublished field data and expert assessment (Abell et al. 2008; Kottelat 1989). Basins south of the Deo Ha Van Pass have more faunistic affinities with the Mekong basin and Southeast Asia, whereas those in the Northern Annam ecoregion [760] have more affinities with the Song Hong [761] and Xi Yiang [763] ecoregions (M. Kottelat pers. comm. 2006).

Level of taxonomic exploration

Published data on the streams of the eastern slopes of the Annamite Range are scanty (M. Kottelat pers. comm. 2006).