Deserts and xeric shrublands in the context of "Mesic habitat"

Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea 29 kilometres (18 mi) north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná and 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Curaçao. In 1986, Aruba became a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and acquired the formal name the Country of Aruba.

Aruba has an area of 179 km (69.1 sq mi). Aruba measures 32 kilometres (20 mi) in length from its northwestern to its southeastern end and is 10 kilometres (6 mi) across at its widest point. Aruba is geologically located in South America, lying on the South American continental shelf. Alongside Bonaire and Curaçao, Aruba forms part of an island group referred to as the ABC islands. The Dutch Caribbean encompasses the ABC islands along with the other three substantial islands, the SSS islands. In contrast to much of the Caribbean, which experiences humid tropical climates, Aruba has a dry climate with an arid xeric landscape. The relatively warm and sunny weather persists throughout the year.

The Arabian Desert (Arabic: ٱلصَّحْرَاء ٱلْعَرَبِيَّة) is a vast desert wilderness in West Asia that occupies almost the entire Arabian Peninsula with an area of 2,330,000 square kilometers (900,000 sq mi). It stretches from Yemen to the Persian Gulf and Oman to Jordan and Iraq. It is the fourth largest desert in the world and the largest in Asia. At its center is Ar-Rub' al-Khali (The Empty Quarter), one of the largest continuous bodies of sand in the world. It is an extension of the Sahara Desert.

Gazelles, oryx, sand cats, and spiny-tailed lizards are just some of the desert-adapted species that survive in this extreme environment, which features everything from red dunes to deadly quicksand. The climate is mostly dry (the major part receives around 100 mm (3.9 in) of rain per year, but some very rare places receive as little as 50 mm), and temperatures oscillate between very high heat and seasonal night time freezes. It is part of the deserts and xeric shrublands biome and lie in biogeographical realms of the Palearctic (northern part) and Afrotropical (southern part).

The Red Sea coastal desert is deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion of Egypt and Sudan.

According to IBGE (2004), Brazil has its territory occupied by six terrestrial biomes and one marine biome.

The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), also called the nine-banded long-nosed armadillo or common long-nosed armadillo, is a species of armadillo native to North, Central, and South America, making it the most widespread of the armadillos.

Its ancestors originated in South America, and remained there until the formation of the Isthmus of Panama allowed them to enter North America as part of the Great American Interchange.The nine-banded armadillo is a solitary, mainly nocturnal animal, found in many kinds of habitats, from mature and secondary rainforests to grassland and dry scrub. It is an insectivore, feeding chiefly on ants, termites, and other small invertebrates. The armadillo can jump 91–120 cm (3–4 ft) straight in the air if sufficiently frightened, making it a particular danger on roads. It is the state small mammal of Texas.

This list of North American deserts identifies areas of the continent that receive less than 10 in (250 mm) annual precipitation. The "North American Desert" is also the term for a large U.S. Level 1 ecoregion (EPA) of the North American Cordillera, in the Deserts and xeric shrublands biome (WWF). The continent's deserts are largely between the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Madre Oriental on the east, and the rain shadow–creating Cascades, Sierra Nevada, Transverse, and Peninsular Ranges on the west. The North American xeric region of over 95,751 sq mi (247,990 km) includes three major deserts, numerous smaller deserts, and large non-desert arid regions in the Western United States and in northeastern, central, and northwestern Mexico.