Centre of origin digression

[Karl Magnacca]

On 3 Apr 2005 at 10:32, Ken Kinman wrote:
>     And of course, how much of a fossil record is available also
> influences how much value we can get from biogeography.  If a mammal
> family has a rich fossil record, biogeographical information can make
> all the difference.  In a dipteran family with no fossil record at all
> and many genera with multi-continent distributions, biogeographical
> data could be of very limited value.

Eh?  I think it would be the other way around.  With a decent fossil
record you can at least have some idea of the biogeography, simply based
on where things were at what time.  With groups without a real fossil
record, working back to from a phylogeny is all you have to go on as far
as determining origins and biogeography.

>       I would be interested to know what specific mosquito subgenus
> and bibionid genus you were discussing.

If I recall correctly there is a similar drosophilid genus, with one
species in the Caribbean and one in Samoa, or something like that.  I
don't have it offhand, but it was in the book Zoogeography of Caribbean
Insects.

Karl
=====================
Karl Magnacca, USGS-BRD
PO Box 11, Hawaii Natl. Park, HI 96718
"Democracy used to be a good thing, but now it has
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