Pantropical

A pantropical ("all tropics") distribution is one which covers tropical regions of both the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Examples of species include caecilians, modern sirenians and the plant genera Acacia and Bacopa.

Neotropical is a zoogeographic term that covers a large part of the Americas, roughly from Mexico and the Caribbean southwards (including cold regions in southernmost South America).

Palaeotropical refers to geographical occurrence. For a distribution to be palaeotropical a taxon must occur in tropical regions in the Old World.

According to Takhtajan (1978), the following families have a pantropical distribution: Annonaceae, Hernandiaceae, Lauraceae, Piperaceae, Urticaceae, Dilleniaceae, Tetrameristaceae, Passifloraceae, Bombacaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Rhizophoraceae, Myrtaceae, Anacardiaceae, Sapindaceae, Malpighiaceae, Proteaceae, Bignoniaceae, Orchidaceae and Arecaceae.