[Taxacom] What exactly is or is not a Gondwanan distribution?

[Stephen Thorpe]

Hi John,
My understanding is that a Gondwanan distribution is one which is hypothesized to have arisen out of the paleo-continent of Gondwana, so it doesn't matter if there has been some subsequent dispersal into non-Gondwanan areas. Note also that the Indian subcontinent is also Gondwanan, though I know of few Gondwanan taxa which it shares with the other places. And, of course, Antarctica is Gondwanan (important for fossils).
Cheers,
Stephen

From: "Leavengood,John" <tokay at ufl.edu>
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu 
Sent: Thursday, 28 March 2013 8:17 AM
Subject: [Taxacom] What exactly is or is not a Gondwanan distribution?

Hello, everyone.

  I am not well-versed in biogeography; hardly versed at all, in fact.  
I have encountered many references to Gondwanan distributions often 
pointing to taxa which span Australia, New Zealand, Southern Africa and 
Chile/Argentina bound by the Andes.  Definitions seem to match this 
notion.  So if a taxon (say, a tribe) has genera in New Zealand, 
Australia, Chile and Argentina, but one genus among them occurs only 
east of the Andes from northern Argentina all the way to Guatemala, is 
that tribe still considered of Gondwanan distribution?

Why or why not?  Or perhaps it points to a certain type of Gondwanan 
distribution attributed to a particular timeframe facilitating that one 
lineage propagated east of the Andes but has no members west of them?

I would appreciate answers accompanied by references, but all guidance 
is appreciated.

-- 
--------------------------
John M. Leavengood, Jr.
Doctoral Candidate
University of Kentucky
Department of Entomology
S-225 Agricultural Science
Center Building - North
Lexington, KY 40546-0091
(859) 257-3169

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