[Taxacom] Another blow to vicariance in ratite evolution

[John Grehan]

And of course the authors don't mention the allopatry because it would
confound their reasoning. So they create a self imposed blindness. What
should not exist does not - if one simply ignores it. Ah, the marvels of
modern technological molecular dispersalism.



John Grehan


On Sun, Jun 8, 2014 at 4:46 PM, Michael Heads <m.j.heads at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
> >
> >
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>
> --
> 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
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> Celebrating 27 years of Taxacom in 2014.
>