The
Australasian zone is an
ecological region that is coincident, but not synonymous (by some definitions), with the
geographic region of
Australasia. The ecozone includes
Australia, the island of
New Guinea (including
Papua New Guinea and the
Indonesian province of
Papua), and the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago, including the island of
Sulawesi, the Moluccan islands (the Indonesian provinces of
Maluku and
North Maluku) and islands of
Lombok,
Sumbawa,
Sumba,
Flores, and
Timor, often known as the Lesser Sundas. The Australasian ecozone also includes several Pacific island groups, including the
Bismarck Archipelago,
Vanuatu, the
Solomon Islands, and
New Caledonia.
New Zealand and its surrounding islands are a distinctive sub-region of the Australasian ecozone. The rest of Indonesia is part of the
Indomalayan ecozone.