[Taxacom] TransAtlantic co-disperals (non-vertebrate)

[Kenneth Kinman]

Hi All,
       Odds are that the transAtlantic rafting event which resulted in
New World primates and the hystricomorph rafting event are separate,
occuring at different times.  However, this does not mean that either of

them involved only one group.  A variety of non-vertebrate taxa
(insects, plants, fungi, etc.) no doubt were carried on these two
rafting events and some could have established themselves in South
America along with them.  This would represent a smaller community than
the larger communities Heads is probably talking about, but a community
nevertheless.            

       Has co-dispersal ever been suggested for any insect, plant, or
fungi which dispersed from Africa to South America about the same time
as the first New World primates or hystricomorph rodents?  I'm not
talking about ectoparasites or endoparasites which may have accompanied
such mammal hosts (which seems very likely, and thus a much more
intimate "community"), but other taxa not so intimately associated with
the bodies of these mammals, but which may have dispersed with and
establish themselves in the same rafting events.  It would not be easy
to prove that such co-dispersals occurred, but as more transAtlantic
dispersals are eventually proposed for less well-studied taxa, some of
them will almost certainly have occurred about the same time as the
better known transAtlantic dispersals of mammal taxa (New World primates

and the hystricomorph disperal).  If such Transatlantic rafting events
are as rare as some have suggested, then co-disperal and
co-establishment via the same rafting event seems likley.  
             ----------Ken Kinman
   
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Michael Heads
      Chance dispersal ('long distance dispersal') is another process as

it only involves one group at a time -?it is not due to a separate
phase of history and does not?involve a?whole 'community' of taxa.
For example, someone may date the New World primates at 47.5823 Ma and
infer a single event that only happened once in?history. The
trans-Atlantic break in hystricomorph rodents?is dated at a different
time and is attributed to a different, unrelated?event.??? ?