[Taxacom] Transatlantic rafting not uncommon

[Kenneth Kinman]

Dear All,
      I have been reading a lot about increasing evidence for a variety
of taxa whose biogeography was affected by TransAtlantic dispersal,
especially by rafting (which I believe is the most common mode of
dispersal in such cases).

      However, I was a bit shocked to learn that TransAtlantic rafting
has been proposed for amphisbaenians (worm lizards), burrowing reptiles
which one would think would be far more likely to be affected by
vicariance than by rafting.  See Vidal et al., 2008 (Biol. Lett.,
4:115-118).        

      As for plants, I noticed today that the work of Suzanne Renner
(and colleagues) tends to support my suspicion that TransAtlantic
dispersal of taxa seems to be most commonly due to ocean currents (i.e.,
rafting), rather than by wind or by birds.  I still think Rhipsalis
would have gotten from South America to Africa in that manner, but how
it got from there to islands in the Indian Ocean could be by a
completely different vector.      
           -----------Ken Kinman