In biogeography, a pantropical ("across the tropics") distribution one which covers tropical regions of all of the major continents, i.e. in Africa, in Asia and in the Americas.[1] Examples include the plant genera Acacia and Bacopa.[2]
Neotropical refers to occurrence in the tropical regions of the New World, i.e. the Americas.
Palaeotropical refers to geographical occurrence. For a distribution to be palaeotropical a taxon must occur in tropical regions on both continents in the Old World, i.e. in Africa and Asia.