[Taxacom] Ratites and frogs of New Zealand

[John Grehan]

Ken,

Thanks for the frog reference. I'll take a look. However, I don't think
you are in any position to cast any probabilities on whether the tuatara
connection is right or wrong without some evidence. The NZ-W North
America relationship was made by paleontologists, not by me. The
reference is listed in the Ghosts of Gondwana review.

John


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ken Kinman [mailto:kinman at hotmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 3:19 PM
> To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> Cc: biogeography at bohm.snv.jussieu.fr
> Subject: RE: [Taxacom] Ratites and frogs of New Zealand
> 
> John,
>     The most comprehensive (and recent) review is "The Amphibian tree
of
> life" (Frost et al., 2006; Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297:1-370).  The
> molecular data is congruent with the morphological data put forth back
in
> 1993 (when clade Leiopelmatanura was first proposed).
> 
>      Although I didn't mention the tuataras in my last post, I think
you
> are
> probably wrong about that as well.  But it would be difficult to prove
> given
> the paucity of the fossil record for Sphenodontidae (especially in the
> Cenozoic after the K-T extinction almost wiped them out).  But
sampling in
> the Mesozoic is getting better, and just a few years ago they
discovered
> many specimens of a new genus Priosphenodon in the Cretaceous of
> Patagonia.
> 
>      Whether Sphenodon itself survived the K-T extinction in South
> America,
> Antarctica, or Australia, is anybody's guess.  Right now I would bet
on
> Australia, so tell all your Australian paleontologist colleagues to be
on
> the lookout for Sphenodon fossils in the early or mid-Cenozoic.  If I
am
> right, they won't ever find any in the early Cenozoic of New Zealand.
We
> shall see.
>    ---Cheers,
>           Ken Kinman
> 
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