[Taxacom] Another blow to vicariance in ratite evolution

[Michael Heads]

The ratites include an absolutely classic example of Indian Ocean - Pacific
Ocean allopatry (not mentioned by the authors):

Indian Ocean: Madagascar (elephant birds), Australia (emus), New
Guinea/Queensland (cassowaries), New Zealand (kiwis).

Pacific Ocean: New Zealand (moas, extinct), South America (tinamous).

These two clades are sisters. The group as a whole is distributed over tens
of thousands of kilometers, but the two clades overlap only in New Zealand.
What is the best way of explaining this very simple pattern? Of course, it
could be the result of chance dispersal. As an alternative, not considered
by the authors, the allopatry can be explained by simple vicariance and the
very local overlap explained by dispersal.

Note that ostriches replace the Indian + Pacific basin group in mainland
Africa and Asia (fossils), with perfect allopatry at a break in the
Mozambique Channel. The Indian + Pacific basin group plus ostriches are
replaced in the north by the fossil group lithornithids, again with perfect
allopatry.




On Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 6:30 AM, Ken Kinman <kinman at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> Hi All,       Looks like elephant birds are closely related to kiwis (not
> to ostriches).  This means even more dispersal and less vicariance than
> once thought in ratite evolution.  Here's one science news report on this
> newest finding:
>
> https://www.sciencenews.org/article/flightless-birds%E2%80%99-history-upset-ancient-dna?mode=magazine&context=188254
>                                     ------------------------Ken
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> _______________________________________________
> Taxacom Mailing List
> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
> The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be searched at:
> http://taxacom.markmail.org
>
> Celebrating 27 years of Taxacom in 2014.
>



-- 
Dunedin, New Zealand.

My recent books:

*Molecular panbiogeography of the tropics.* 2012. University of California
Press, Berkeley. www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520271968

*Biogeography of Australasia:  A molecular analysis*. 2014. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge. www.cambridge.org/9781107041028