Dominican Republic

Four bird species now appear to be extinct in neighboring Haiti and survive only in the Dominican Republic: Ridgway’s Hawk (eBird) (birdfinding.info WM), the White-fronted Quail-Dove (birdfinding.info WM) (eBird), the Bay-breasted Cuckoo (eBird), and the Eastern Chat-Tanager (birdfinding.info WM) (eBird).

The Dominican Republic is home to the world's smallest lizard, the Jaragua Dwarf Gecko (BBC WM). A diverse endemic anole fauna includes the Dominican Giant Anole (iNaturalist), the Cordillera Central Twig Anole (flickr), and the Red-fanned Stout Anole (iNaturalist). Other endemic reptiles include the Hispaniolan Striped Galliwasp (flickr), the Hispaniolan Maskless Curlytail (iNaturalist), the Samana Least Gecko (iNaturalist), the Dominican Leaf-toed Gecko (flickr), the Hispaniolan Vine Boa (ResearchGate), the Jaragua Golden Trope (ResearchGate), the Barahona Red-headed Racer (Wikipedia), the Bahoruco Blindsnake (fig. B at zenodo), and the Martin Garcia Threadsnake (fig. D at ResearchGate). The Jaragua Forest Lizard Guarocuyus jaraguanus (GBIF) is an endemic genus.

Amphibians unique to the Dominican Republic include the Yellow Split-toed Frog (iNaturalist), the Coastal Red-rumped Frog (iNaturalist), Eleutherodactylus geitonos (Species New to Science), the Hispaniolan Cordillera Frog (ARKive WM), the Hispaniolan Melodius Frog (flickr), Eleutherodactylus ligiae and Eleutherodactylus neiba (both at Species New to Science), the Eastern Crested Toad (ResearchGate), and the Hispaniolan Armored Toad (GBIF).

Freshwater fish restricted to the Dominican Republic include the Hispaniolan Rivulus (It Rains Fishes), the Sulfur Limia (FishBase), the Striped Limia (iNaturalist), Yaguajal Limia (p. 50 of Native Fish Lab pdf), the Elegant Molly (iNaturalist), the Jaragua Pupfish (iNaturalist), and the Black-and-blue Pupfish (FishBase).

Endemic butterflies include Calisto tasajera (Butterflies of America), Calisto crypta (iNaturalist), Doxocopa thoe (iNaturalist) (p. 73 of zobodat pdf), Myscelia aracynthia (iNaturalist), Adelpha lapitha (Butterflies of America), Rhinthon bushi (iNaturalist), and Strymon monopeteinus (Butterflies of America). Endemic moths include a silk moth Hispaniodirphia plana (flickr), the tiger moths Westindia haxairei (iNaturalist) and Sthenognatha flinti (iNaturalist), a hawk moth Perigonia caryae (iNaturalist), an ermine moth Atteva rawlinsi (iNaturalist).

Longhorn beetles known only from the Dominican Republic include Oedudes anulatus (fig. 1a at ResearchGate), Xixuthrus domingoensis (iNaturalist), Phoenicus sanguinipennis (Univ. Nebraska pdf), Sarifer seabrai (iNaturalist), and Derancistrus hovorei (iNaturalist). Other endemic insects include a ground beetle Platynus biramosus (GBIF), a flea beetle Syphrea baoruco (fig. 11 at ResearchGate), a leaf beetle Hirtasphaera hirsuta (iNaturalist), a weevil Lachnopus spretus (flickr), an ant Pheidole harlequina (AntWiki) (iNaturalist), the bees Ceratina guarnacciana (iNaturalist) and Caupolicana notabilis (iNaturalist), the stick insects Taraxippus perezgelaberti (flickr) and Malacomorpha obscura (fig. 89 at ResearchGate), the katydids Spelaeala bondi (iNaturalist) and Polyancistrus loripes (iNaturalist), the grasshoppers Antillacris explicatis (flickr) and Dellia viridissima (ResearchGate), a damselfly Protoneura sanguinipes (iNaturalist), a cicada Uhleroides hispaniolae (flickr), a leafhopper Caribovia glabra (iNaturalist), a treehopper Ramosella dominicensis (flickr), a leaf-footed bug Chondrocera mirabilis (iNaturalist), and several species of stinkbugs (ResearchGate).

Other endemic invertebrates include the world's smallest scorpion Microtityus minimus (Scorpion Files), the tarantulas Antillena rickwesti (Tarantupedia) and Holothele sericea (Dominican Spiders), the jumping spiders Antillattus cambridgei (iNaturalist) and Peckhamia magna (iNaturalist), a prowling spider Suspira alayoni (GBIF), a pholcid spider Tainonia samana (Pholcidae WM), a tailless whip scorpion Charinus dominicanus (iNaturalist), a harvestman Arucillus armasi (iNaturalist), the millipedes Beatadesmus yuma (flickr) and Alcimobolus domingensis (GBIF), a cave-dwelling amphipod Ottenwalderia kymbalion (Contributions to Zoology WM), and several land snails: Gyraxis excalibur (Bram's snailblog WM), Arenabbottella sosuaensis (iNaturalist), Abbottella moreletiana (Femorale WM), Chondropoma morsecodex (jaxshells.org WM), Rolleia oberi (BHL), Tessaripoma hooksi (Bram's snailblog WM), Cepolis lincolni (jaxshells.org WM), Parachondria trachyderma (iNaturalist), and Helicina gabbi (iNaturalist).

Among over 600 species of vascular plants unique to the Dominican Republic (BHL) are the orchids Lepanthopsis constanzensis (IOSPE WM), Tolumnia henekenii (Blue Nanta), Dendrophylax alcoa (IOSPE WM), and Psychilis dodii (IOSPE WM). Other endemic plants include Randia silae (BHL), Pitcairnia domingensis (FCBS WM), Siphocampylus igneus (iNaturalist), Melocactus praerupticola (IUCN), Passiflora intricata (ResearchGate), Pilea fairchildiana (iNaturalist), Elekmania barahonensis (iNaturalist), Isidorea pungens (iNaturalist), Rhytidophyllum daisyanum (BHL), Cestrum humile (iNaturalist), Pinguicula casabitoana (World of Pinguicula WM), Salvia praeterita (iNaturalist), and a fern Alsophila urbani (iNaturalist).

Endemic trees include the Dominican Cherry Palm (ARKive WM), a silver palm Coccothrinax boschiana (IPS WM), the Giant Window Pane Palm (iNaturalist), Podocarpus hispaniolensis (RBGE), Cinnamodendron ekmanii (BHL), Vachellia barahonensis (ANBG), Lyonia alainii (iNaturalist), Tabebuia bullata (iNaturalist), Miconia dielsiana (iNaturalist), Annona bicolor (iNaturalist), Cubanola domingensis (iNaturalist), Plumeria magna (iNaturalist), Magnolia pallescens (IUCN), Pimenta haitiensis (iNaturalist), Quadrella domingensis (iNaturalist), the Bayahibe Rose (iNaturalist), Ximenia horrida (iNaturalist), Rondeletia ochracea (iNaturalist), Casearia ilicifolia (iNaturalist), Thouinidium inaequilaterum (iNaturalist), Solanum dendroicum (iNaturalist), and Thespesia beatensis (iNaturalist).

Endemic vascular plant genera include Salcedoa (BHL) (iNaturalist), Linnaeosicyos (cucurbit.de), Vegaea (Facebook) (twitter), Maguirellaria (Phytotaxa) (iNaturalist), and Pedinopetalum (JSTOR).

Endemic fungi include a morel Morchella hispaniolensis (fig. 4 at USFS WM pdf), Amanita domingensis (Neotropical Fungi), and Gerhardtia citrinolobata (ResearchGate). Endemic lichens include Krogia microphylla (100 New Lichens) and Xenonectriella dirinariae (ResearchGate). Endemic non-vascular plants include the mosses Actinodontium pygmaeum (GBIF) and Ectropothecium aquaticum (GBIF).

The Dominican Republic is part of the Caribbean Islands biodiversity hotspot (Biodiversity Hotspots WM). Important terrestrial ecoregions include the Hispaniolan Pine Forests (EoE) and the Hispaniolan Moist Forests (EoE). With Haiti now almost completely deforested (PNAS), many formerly more widely ranging Hispaniolan endemic species (in addition to the birds mentioned above) and genera (15 terrestrial vertebrate genera are unique to the island) may already survive only in the Dominican Republic. A checklist indicating endemic arthropods can be found at (ResearchGate).