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Originally Posted by Paul mabbott  I suspect that you're looking at this from the wrong angle. An indigenous species in ecological terms is one that is only found in a certain area, particularly on a particular island. The term could be applied to an organism only found in one country but since countries boundaries tend to wander this is a bit dubious ( e.g. indigenous fauna of Hungary or Poland would have varied a lot over the years.  )
I wonder if your definition is confusing 'indigenous' with 'native'? For sure wallabies in Derbyshire would not be 'indigenous' until and if they became extinct everywhere else ... not very likely methinks!
For interest, the British Isles have very few indigenous species - no vertebrates and, for instance, one species of ground beetle ....  |
Hi Paul - are you confusing indigenous with endemic? I think indigenous means "native" whereas endemic means "restricted to one particular place". I think the UK has lots of indigenous species but very few endemic species. In the bird world the example they always use is Scottish Crossbill.
all the best