Editing Palearctic realm (section)

{{short description|Biogeographic realm covering most of Eurasia}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=May 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
[[Image:Ecozone Palearctic.svg|thumb|320px|The Palearctic realm (in red)]]

The '''Palearctic''' or '''Palaearctic''' is a [[biogeographic realm]] of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the [[Eastern Hemisphere]], it stretches across [[Europe]] and [[Asia]], north of the foothills of the [[Himalayas]], and [[North Africa]].

The realm consists of several [[Bioregion|bioregions]]: the [[Mediterranean Basin]]; [[North Africa]]; North [[Arabia]]; [[Western Asia|Western]], [[Central Asia|Central]] and [[East Asia]]. The Palaearctic realm also has numerous rivers and lakes, forming several freshwater ecoregions.

Both the eastern and westernmost extremes of the Paleartic span into the [[Western Hemisphere]], including [[Cape Dezhnyov]] in [[Chukotka Autonomous Okrug]] to the east and [[Iceland]] to the west. The term was first used in the 19th century, and is still in use as the basis for [[Zoogeography|zoogeographic]] classification.