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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Eastward from Africa: Palaeocurrent-mediated chameleon dispersal to the Seychelles islands
Biology Letters, Volume 7, No. 2, Year 2011
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Description
Madagascar and the Seychelles are Gondwanan remnants currently isolated in the Indian Ocean. In the Late Cretaceous, these islands were joined with India to form the Indigascar landmass, which itself then split into its three component parts around the start of the Tertiary. This history is reflected in the biota of the Seychelles, which appears to contain examples of both vicarianceand dispersal-mediated divergence from Malagasy or Indian sister taxa. One lineage for which this has been assumed but never thoroughly tested is the Seychellean tiger chameleon, a species assigned to the otherwise Madagascarendemic genus Calumma. We present a multi-locus phylogenetic study of chameleons, and find that the Seychellean species is actually the sister taxon of a southern African clade and requires accomodation in its own genus as Archaius tigris. Divergence dating and biogeographic analyses indicate an origin by transoceanic dispersal from Africa to the Seychelles in the Eocene-Oligocene, providing, to our knowledge, the first such well-documented example and supporting novel palaeocurrent reconstructions. © 2011 The Royal Society.
Authors & Co-Authors
Townsend, Ted M.
United States, San Diego
San Diego State University
Tolley, Krystal A.
South Africa, Pretoria
South African National Biodiversity Institute
South Africa, Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch University
Glaw, Frank
Germany, Munich
Zoologische Staatssammlung München
Böhme, Wolfgang
Germany, Bonn
Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig
Vences, Miguel
Germany, Braunschweig
Technische Universität Braunschweig
Statistics
Citations: 70
Authors: 5
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1098/rsbl.2010.0701
ISSN:
17449561
e-ISSN:
1744957X
Study Locations
Madagascar
Seychelles