[Taxacom] New Zealand modern biota ALL by dispersal?

[Karl Magnacca]

On 10 Jan 2007 at 4:25, Ken Kinman wrote:
>      Perhaps the most difficult dispersal across the Tasman Sea to explain 
> would be the frog genus Leiopelma, but I am mulling over some ideas.  
> Compared to that it would be easy to explain Sphenodon's dispersal across 
> the Tasman Sea, so if I can explain how Leiopelma probably dispersed across 
> it, everything else would be a breeze.  

What's the explanation for moa and kiwi?  As someone without much 
knowledge of the assemblage I could believe that the tuatara could raft 
across, but it seems kind of unlikely for those two.  The only other way 
I see would be flying, and even if the ratites aren't monophyletic and 
they could still fly at the time they don't seem like they would have 
ever been strong enough to make it over such a distance (though maybe it 
was shorter then?).  It seems even more difficult if the kiwi are more 
closely related to cassowaries, as it would make it more likely that 
they were flightless before arriving.

Karl
=====================
Karl Magnacca
UC-Berkeley, ESPM Dept.
137 Mulford Hall #3114
Berkeley, CA 94720
http://nature.berkeley.edu/~magnacca/