Animals
There are more endemic animals than plants in the Maltese Islands. Many a time, the animal in question has been confused with a different species from a close country e.g. the Sicilian shrew in Gozo which has been defined as a subspecies of its own.
Below is a list of some endemic animals (together with their classification):
- Maltese Field Beetle Pimelia rugulosa ssp. melitana
- Schembri's Spider Fly Ogcodes schembrii
- Maltese Ruby Tiger Moth Phragmatobia fuliginosa ssp. melitensis
- Swallowtail (Maltese subspecies) Papilio machaon ssp. melitensis
- Maltese freshwater crab Potamon fluviatile ssp. lanfrancoi
- Maltese Palpigrade Eukoenia christiani
- Maltese Wall Lizard (this species has many subspecies, four of which are endemic to the Maltese Islands) Podarcis filfolensis
- Sicilian Shrew Crocidura sicula ssp. calypso
Read more about this topic: Endemic Maltese Wildlife
Famous quotes containing the word animals:
“Why do precisely these objects which we behold make a world? Why has man just these species of animals for his neighbors; as if nothing but a mouse could have filled this crevice?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“who cooked rotten animals lung heart feet tailborscht & tortillas
dreaming of the pure vegetable kingdom,”
—Allen Ginsberg (b. 1926)
“Thou almost mak’st me waver in my faith
To hold opinion with Pythagoras,
That souls of animals infuse themselves
Into the trunks of men.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)