ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND THE MAMMALIAN FAUNA OF ZHEJIANG PROVINCE

Eighty-six species and two subspecies of mammals have been recorded in Zhejiang province. They belong to 10 orders and 29 families. Among the more abundant mammals are Rodentia, Chiroptera and Carnivora. Twenty species are considered as new records there. In the mammalian fauna the Oriental species are dominant, and the Palaearctic species are less. Both numbers of species compared about 4 : 1 . Based on the distribution of the mammals and the geographic conditions, the province may be divided into five zoogeographical regions, namely: ( 1 ) the northern plain region, ( 2 ) the eastern hill region, ( 3 ) the western hill-mountain region, ( 4 ) the southern mountain region and ( 5 ) the island region. Most mammals inhabit in the western and southern mountains, but less common in the island region. From north to south, the faunal composition is characterized by a proportional decrease of the Palaearctic elements with a corresponding increas of the Oriental elements.