Western Palearctic

It is bounded by the Sahara in the south, thereby including North Africa and the Mediterranean. The western edge is out in the Atlantic, allowing the inclusion of the Cape Verde Islands, the Azores and Iceland but excluding Greenland. It narrows to the North Pole, with Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land amongst it's most Northerly land elements. Coming back south, the boundary is the traditional edge of Europe - the Urals. The Caspian Sea is split between Eastern and Western Palearctic and thence the line runs down to the Persian Gulf and across to include the Sinai where it reaches Africa once more.