We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Biogeography: Washed up in Madagascar.
- Authors
Krause, David W.
- Abstract
The article reports on the rafting hypothesis proposed by researchers Jason R. Ali and Matthew Huber to explain the biogeographic origin of the mammalian fauna in Madagascar. The evidence shows the northwest-to-southwest pattern of the ocean current from Africa to Madagascar which could have contributed to the inter-island washing up of large rafts of vegetation which carried the mammals. It looks into the endemicity of the Malagasy placental mammals, the absence of their fossil records during the Cenozoic era, and the evidence provided by the molecular systematists which shed some light on the mystery. It also notes the argument on the existence of a land bridge which connected Madagascar to the African continent, and the inferences by paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson.
- Subjects
MADAGASCAR; INDIAN Ocean; BIOGEOGRAPHY; MAMMALS; ANIMAL dispersal; HUBER, Matthew; ALI, Jason R.; OCEAN currents; EOCENE paleoclimatology; CENOZOIC stratigraphic geology
- Publication
Nature, 2010, Vol 463, Issue 7281, p613
- ISSN
0028-0836
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/463613a