The Veracruz dry forests are a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest

Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests

The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest biome, also known as tropical dry forest, is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive several hundred centimeters of rain per year, they have long dry seasons...

 ecoregion

Ecoregion

An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...

 located in central Veracruz

Veracruz

Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. They cover an area of 6600 km² (2,548.3 sq mi). The dry climate is a result of the rain shadow

Rain shadow

A rain shadow is a dry area on the lee side of a mountainous area. The mountains block the passage of rain-producing weather systems, casting a "shadow" of dryness behind them. As shown by the diagram to the right, the warm moist air is "pulled" by the prevailing winds over a mountain...

 created by the Sierra de Chiconquiaco. The forests receive <1000 mm (39.4 in) of annual rainfall, and a long dry season

Dry season

The dry season is a term commonly used when describing the weather in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year...

 forces many plants to be deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

. Soils are derived from sedimentary rock

Sedimentary rock

Sedimentary rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution....

s and are calcareous

Calcareous

Calcareous is an adjective meaning mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate, in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines.-In zoology:...

.

Flora

Cordia dodecandra, Tabebuia chrysantha

Tabebuia chrysantha

Tabebuia chrysantha , known as cañaguate in northern Colombia , as tajibo in Bolivia, and as ipê-amarelo in Brazil, is a native tree of the intertropical broadleaf deciduous forests of South America above the Tropic of Capricorn...

, Piscidia piscipula

Piscidia piscipula

Piscidia piscipula, commonly named Florida fishpoison tree, Jamaican dogwood or Fishfuddle, is a medium-sized, deciduous, tropical tree endemic to southern Florida, the Florida Keys, Texas, Caribbean, and Latin America. Native Americans of the West Indies discovered extracts from the tree could...

, Crescentia alata

Crescentia alata

Crescentia alata is a species in the trumpet-flower family Bignoniaceae, native to southern Mexico and Central America south to Costa Rica....

, Enterolobium cyclocarpum, Ehretia tenuifolia and Tabebuia rosea

Tabebuia rosea

Tabebuia rosea is a neotropical tree that grows up to and can reach a diameter at breast height of up to . The name Roble de Sabana is widely used in Costa Rica meaning "savannah oak" in Spanish, probably because it often remains in heavily deforested areas, where people prize its intense...

are dominant species. Succulents

Succulent plant

Succulent plants, also known as succulents or fat plants, are water-retaining plants adapted to arid climates or soil conditions. Succulent plants store water in their leaves, stems, and also in roots...

 are abundant and include species of Acanthocereus

Acanthocereus

Acanthocereus is a genus of cacti. Its species take the form of shrubs with arching or climbing stems up to several meters in height. The generic name is derived from the Greek word άκανθα , meaning spine, and the Latin word cereus, meaning candle.The six species occur in the tropical Americas...

, Agave

Agave

Agave is a genus of monocots. The plants are perennial, but each rosette flowers once and then dies ; they are commonly known as the century plant....

and Opuntia

Opuntia

Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus , is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae.Currently, only prickly pears are included in this genus of about 200 species distributed throughout most of the Americas. Chollas are now separated into the genus Cylindropuntia, which some still consider...

. Epiphyte

Epiphyte

An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object , derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone and in the...

s and shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

s in the genera Acacia

Acacia

Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...

, Bursera

Bursera

Bursera, named after the Danish botanist Joachim Burser is a genus with about 100 described species of flowering shrubs and trees varying in size upwards to 25 m. high...

, Ficus

Ficus

Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...

, Phyllanthus

Phyllanthus

Phyllanthus is the largest genus in the flowering plant family Phyllanthaceae. Estimates of the number species in this genus vary widely, from 750 to 1200. Phyllanthus has a remarkable diversity of growth forms including annual and perennial herbs, shrubs, climbers, floating aquatics, and...

, and Pithecellobium

Pithecellobium

Pithecellobium is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. The generic name is derived from the Greek words πιθηκος , meaning "ape" or "monkey," and ελλοβιον , meaning "earring," which refers to the coiled shape of the seedpods.Delimitation to the closely related Albizia is a matter...

have the greatest diversity of species. Herbaceous plant

Herbaceous plant

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

s are scarce.

Fauna

Birds of the Veracruz dry forests include the Sharp-shinned Hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk

The Sharp-shinned Hawk is a small hawk. In fact, "sharp-shins" or "sharpies" are the smallest to reside in USA and Canada, though some Neotropical species are smaller...

 (Accipiter striatus), Merlin

Merlin (bird)

The Merlin is a small species of falcon from the Northern Hemisphere. A bird of prey once known colloquially as a pigeon hawk in North America, the Merlin breeds in the northern Holarctic; some migrate to subtropical and northern tropical regions in winter.-European and North American...

 (Falco columbarius), White-winged Dove

White-winged Dove

The White-winged Dove is a dove whose native range extends from the south-western USA through Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. In recent years with increasing urbanization and backyard feeding, it has expanded throughout Texas and into Louisiana...

 (Zenaida asiatica), Lesser Roadrunner

Lesser Roadrunner

The Lesser Roadrunner, Geococcyx velox, is a large, long-legged member of the Cuckoo family, Cuculidae.The Lesser roadrunner resembles the Greater Roadrunner in appearance and habit but is smaller and has a significantly shorter bill...

 (Geococcyx velox), Mexican Sheartail

Mexican Sheartail

The Mexican Sheartail is a species of hummingbird in the Trochilidae family.It is found only in Mexico.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, mangroves, rural gardens and urban areas.It is threatened by habitat loss...

 (Doricha eliza), Couch's Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird

The Couch's Kingbird, Tyrannus couchii, is a passerine tyrant flycatcher of the kingbird genus. It is found from southern Texas along the Gulf Coast to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, Belize and northern Guatemala...

 (Tyrannus couchii), Swainson’s Thrush (Catharus ustulatus), Red-eyed Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

The Red-eyed Vireo, Vireo olivaceus, is a small American songbird, 13–14 cm in length. It is somewhat warbler-like but not closely related to the New World warblers...

 (Vireo olivaceous), Magnolia Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Setophaga magnolia, commonly known as the Magnolia warbler, is a member of the Parulidae family of wood warblers. [4] This warbler was first discovered in magnolia trees in the 19th century by famed ornithologist Alexander Wilson while in Mississippi. [7]-Description:The magnolia warbler can be...

 (Dendroia magnolia), and Blue-black Grassquit

Blue-black Grassquit

The Blue-black Grassquit is a small bird in the tanager family, Thraupidae. It was previously classified in the bunting and American sparrow family, Emberizidae. It breeds from southern Mexico through Central America, and South America as far as northern Chile, Argentina and Paraguay, and on...

 (Vilatinia jacarina). The area is rich in herpetofauna such as the Black-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus meridionalis

Notophthalmus meridionalis

Notophthalmus meridionalis, commonly known as the Black-spotted Newt or Texas Newt, is a species of aquatic newt native to northeastern Mexico and southern Texas in the United States.- Description :...

), and Tabasco Mud Turtle

Tabasco Mud Turtle

The Tabasco mud turtle is a species of turtle in the Kinosternidae family.It is found in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico.-Source:* Tortoise & Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group 1996. . Downloaded on 29 July 2007....

(Kinosternon acutum).