Plate tectonics, seaways and climate in the historical biogeography of mammals

Abstract

The marsupial and placental mammals originated at a time when the pattern of geographical barriers (oceans, shallow

Isolation of Novel Trypanosomatid, Zelonia australiensis sp. nov. (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) Provides Support for a Gondwanan Origin of Dixenous Parasitism in the Leishmaniinae

“…This places the origin of the dixenous Leishmaniinae during the breakup of Gondwana when the radiation of mammals first began [57], and is within the lower limit of 90 to 140 MYA proposed recently by Harkins et al . [3].…”

A comparative study on floras in Nepal and Southern Tibet

“…The results also showed that the similarity indices of the floristic composition between the two regions decreased from 0.89 to 0.41 with the descending of taxonomical level. This may reflect the hypothesis that at lower taxonomical ranks, e.g., species level, floras may be comprised of more diverse taxa and more strongly influenced by allopatric speciations induced by the uplift of the range during the Tertiary (Cox, 2000;Sakka et al, 2000;Hoffmann, 2001;Gayden et al, 2007;Cun and Wang, 2010;Von Oheimb et al, 2013), and hence lead to lower similarity indices of the floristic composition. In other words, though one cannot deny the boundary effects of the Himalayan Range on floras, to a certain extent, its strength may depend on the taxonomical ranks investigated.…”

“…However, as one shifts from considering the family to genus level, the similarity decreased, mainly characterized by contrast proportions of the tropical and temperate elements between the two regions. This may hint that, although both regions have close biogeographical affinities, the boundary effects or the uplift of the range may, to certain extent, have caused strong allopatric speciations in the geographical elements of the Himalayan regions, and also may have prevented the migration of geographical elements at genus level between the two regions (Cox, 2000;Sakka et al, 2000;Hoffmann, 2001;Gayden et al, 2007;Cun and Wang, 2010;Von Oheimb et al, 2013). The results also showed that the similarity indices of the floristic composition between the two regions decreased from 0.89 to 0.41 with the descending of taxonomical level.…”

“…The Himalayan Range, which separates the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau, is considered to be one of the most formidable biogeographical boundaries in the world (Cox, 2000(Cox, , 2001. Therefore, one can reasonably hypothesize that this mountain range has led to the general development of distinct biota in Nepal and Southern Tibet (Hoffmann, 2001), though they are not strictly separated by the ridge line.…”

“…A flurry of studies has been conducted to test this hypothesis. For instance, several studies show that the Himalayan Range strictly impeded the dispersal of some gastropod and mammalian taxa, and prevented gene exchange across the range (Cox, 2000;Sakka et al, 2000;Gayden et al, 2007;Von Oheimb et al, 2013;Wang, 2013). However, studies of avian taxa show that some species (e.g., Anser indicus and Tadorna ferruginea) can migrate over the Himalayan Range (Hawkes et al, 2011;Newman et al, 2012), suggesting that their populations in Nepal and Southern Tibet may have some genetic interaction.…”