Wallace's line

American  

noun

Zoogeography.

1. an imaginary line that separates the Oriental and Australian zoogeographical regions and passes between Bali and Lombok, west of Sulawesi, and east of the Philippines.

---

Wallace's line British  

noun

1. the hypothetical boundary between the Oriental and Australasian zoogeographical regions, which runs between the Indonesian islands of Bali and Lombok, through the Macassar Strait, and SE of the Philippines

---

Etymology

Origin of Wallace's line

First recorded in 1865–70; after A. R. Wallace

Example Sentences

This includes the islands north-west of Australia out to Wallace's line, passing between Celebes and the Philippine Islands, Celebes and Borneo, and between the small islands of Lombok and Bali, east of Java.

From An Australian Bird Book A Pocket Book for Field Use by Leach, John Albert

What is known as Wallace's line corresponds with the deep channel running between the islands of Bali and Lombok and continuing northwards to the west of Celebes.

From Anthropology by Marett, R. R. (Robert Ranulph)

Four times Hardee, Bragg, and Cheatham rushed upon Wallace’s line, but were in each instance repulsed.

From My Days and Nights on the Battle-Field by Coffin, Charles Carleton

Only one Cockatoo transgresses Wallace's line to the west, and that is found in the Philippine Islands; evidently it has spread there from the adjacent part of the Australian region.

From An Australian Bird Book A Pocket Book for Field Use by Leach, John Albert

Strange it is that only one species should have spread to the west across Wallace's line to the island of Bali.

From An Australian Bird Book A Pocket Book for Field Use by Leach, John Albert