[Taxacom] Two primitive mammals in one week

[Ken Kinman]

     The paper by Knapp et al., 2005, makes a very good case that 
long-distance dispersal of Nothofagus has occurred over the Tasman Sea.  
Nothofagus apparently doesn't like sea-water, but why has dispersal by 
migrating birds been rejected as a mechanism in the past?  Even if 
Nothofagus nuts are not eaten by birds today, perhaps they were eaten by 
some migrating species of bird which is now extinct.
   ---Ken Kinman
**********************************
Geoff Read wrote:
>This is way out of my expertise zone, but I'm going to read Knapp et al
>(2005) to get their POV.
>
>Knapp, M., Stockler, K., Havell, D., Delsuc, F., Sebastiani, F. &
>Lockhart, P.J. (2005) Relaxed molecular clock provides evidence for
>long-distance dispersal of Nothofagus (southern beech). PLoS Biology, 3,
>38-43.
>
>doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030014
>
>http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-toc&issn=1545-7885&volume=3&issue=1
>
>Geoff
>--

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