Biota of Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago are continental islands with a geologically very recent history of direct land bridge connection to South America. As a result, unlike most of the Caribbean Islands, Trinidad and Tobago supports a primarily South American flora and fauna and has greater diversity of plant and animal species than the Antilles. However, rates of endemism are lower than in the rest of the Caribbean because there has been less time for genetic isolation from mainland populations. Specifically, a land bridge to Venezuela existed fairly recently in Trinidad, allowing fewer opportunities for speciation than in Tobago, as well as a lot of overlap in biodiversity with the South American mainland.

Trinidad is nearer to mainland South America and has been directly connected to the mainland via land bridges more often and for longer periods than Tobago. This, as well as Trinidad's larger size and more varied topography and hydrology compared to that of Tobago, allows more ecosystem diversity in the former island compared to the latter.