Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Chapter 11 Terrestrial patterns

1995; Elsevier BV; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0920-5446(06)80061-0

2352-2852

Fish biology, ecology, and behavior

Summaryo1.All major groups of the freshwater and terrestrial biota had their origin in a relatively restricted part of the earth's surface and, over time, became more widely dispersed. There is no evidence that any species, or larger taxonomic group, came into being simultaneously over a worldwide or large continental area.2.The worldwide patterns of such disparate groups as the birds, mammals, insects, and freshwater fish all conform remarkably well to the regional zoogeographic system devised by P.L. Sclater in 1858 and adopted by Wallace (1876).3.Of all the animal groups that might be used to trace the earth's tectonic history since the mid-Mesozoic, the freshwater fish are probably the most reliable.4.Aside from two catfish families that have become secondarily adapted to saltwater, ostariophysan fish have a purely freshwater history and have not been able to reach such places is Madagascar, Australia, New Zealand, and the West Indies. This permits us to predict that these land masses have not been connected to any larger continent since the Upper Jurassic.5.Some fish groups, now confined to freshwater, had marine ancestors so that their present distributions may have been achieved by oceanic migration. Examples are the lungfish (Ceratodidae), the bonytongues (Osteoglossidae), the Melanotaeniidae, the Percichthyidae, and probably the Nandidae.6.The presence of six archaic fish families that are endemic in Africa, plus the presence of four old families that are also found in South America, gives Africa a remarkably rich fauna of ancient freshwater fish. In comparison, South America is relatively depauperate. This suggests that South America may have originally received its primary freshwater fish from Africa.7.The cypriniform fish (minnows) probably arose in southeast Asia in the early Paleogene. But this group, along with the characoids and catfish, forms a monophyletic triad. This means that all three had a common ancestor somewhere. Catfish have a long evolutionary history in southeast Asia, but the more-primitive characoids now exist only in Africa and South America. Characoid fossils are known from the Eocene and Oligocene of France. Are these fossils remnants of an earlier Eurasian distribution or did the characoids make their way from Africa across the Tethys Sea?8.Another theory says that the three ostariophysan fish groups arose in Gondwana and were transported to Asia when portions of that supercontinent moved northward. But there is nothing in the present or fossil faunas of India and Australia to indicate that this may have happened.9.The North Atlantic connection of the early Eocene permitted the intercontinental migration of the ancient gars and bowfins. The teleost family Percidae probably originated in Europe and invaded North America before the connection was broken.10.Primary freshwater fish began to make their way across Beringia from Asia to North America as early as the late Cretaceous. Paleogene migrations included several archaic fish as well as the more advanced families Hypsidoridae, Ictaluridae, Cyprinidae, and Catostomidae. Some reciprocal crossings have been identified.11.The history of the secondary freshwater fish families Cyprindontidae (killifish) and Cichlidae (cichlids) is of biogeographic interest. Both families are found in Madagascar and the West Indies as well as in Africa and South America. It was suggested that the cichlids probably arose in Africa while the cyprinodontids originally evolved in Central to South America.12.Seven major groups of insects with aquatic larval stages are old, at least early Mesozoic, and their present patterns are often assumed to have been caused by continental dispersement. These are the stoneflies (Plecoptera), caddisflies (Trichoptera), mayflies (Ephemeroptera), blackflies (Simuliidae), midges (Chironomidae), net-winged midges (Blephariceridae), and dragonflies (Petaluridae). All of these groups have antitropical tendencies and relict families and/or genera with amphinotic distributions. The adult stages are generally capable of flight.13.In the southern hemisphere, many groups exhibit amphinotic patterns. Southern South America is invariably included and usually Australia and New Zealand. Less often, the pattern extends to southern Africa, Madagascar, or New Caledonia. The amphinotic groups usually represent the most primitive (plesiomorphic) genera or families within their respective larger groups. Their more advanced (apomorphic) relatives are located to the north, either in the tropics or more commonly at boreal latitudes.14.Many of the amphinotic freshwater groups have been used as examples to illustrate vicariance caused by the rifting of Gondwana. Even though most of the groups considered seem to be sufficiently old, was continental movement the primary reason for the present patterns? Prior to the mid-Miocene, before Antarctica was completely glaciated, the southern land masses were closer together and migration across modest oceanic gaps must have been relatively easy.15.Among the terrestrial insects, the beetles (Coleoptera) are a very old group with a fossil record extending back to the Lower Permian. The most archaic survivor is the Australian genus Omma. Fossil relatives have been described from the Lower Jurassic of England.16.The beetle family Carabidae has been said to illustrate a world-wide pattern of the evolution of dominant groups in Africa and tropical Asia and dispersal into smaller areas, with replacement of older by more recently dominant groups. In such old families, both dispersal and vicariance are important.17.The concept of repetitive “taxon pulses” was developed from work on carabid beetles. Taxa arise in equatorial latitudes and are driven along pathways in three directions: towards the poles, up mountains, and into the forest canopy. Various groups of carabids have repeatedly followed these paths.18.Work with ants indicates that, since mid-Tertiary times, evolution of world-dominating new taxa has proceeded mainly from the combined tropics of Africa and southeast Asia. Older taxa are forced to retreat before the new forms and can shift only from larger to smaller land masses.19.The dipterid family Drosophilidae probably also arose in the Old World tropics, became acclimated to temperate conditions, and crossed to the New World via Beringia. Further dispersal reached South America and, from there, a reverse migration reached North America.20.Other major insect groups also have their greatest diversity in the Old World tropics and may have originated there. Examples are the wasp family Vespidae (southeast Asia), the mosquitos (southeast Asia), the earwigs (southeast Asia), and the moth family Sphingidae (Old World). Others are most diverse in the Neotropical Region and may have arisen there: the bees, robber flies (Asilidae), the hemipterid tribe Myodochini, and flat bugs (Aradidae).21.Many of the large insect groups, that probably originated in the tropics, are now represented by primitive taxa at higher latitudes. The oldest elements tend to occur as isolated relicts in the southern hemisphere. Fossil relatives are sometimes found in the northern temperate zone. The same worldwide pattern is reflected by the spiders and possibly the scorpions.22.In regard to bird distribution, it is important to note that the biogeographic regions differ in the diversity of their avian faunas. The richest by far is the Neotropical Region with 86 families (31 endemic) and 2780 species. The Ethiopian has 73 families (6 endemic) and 1556 species, the Palearctic has 69 families (1 endemic) and 1026 species, the Nearctic has 62 families (1 endemic) and 750 species, the Oriental has 66 families (1 endemic) and 961 species, and the Australian has 64 families (13 endemic) and 906 species.23.The Neotropical bird fauna is comprised, to a large extent, of primitive families. Its diversity has been increased, probably since the creation of the isthmian link, by immigration from North America. The southward invasion may have involved about 10 families. Two Neotropical families evidently dispersed to North America.24.The Palearctic Region encompasses the largest geographic area. The relationship of its bird fauna with that of the Nearctic is especially close. The Palearctic shares 48 of its families, 35% of its genera, and 12.5% of its species with the Nearctic.25.The Oriental and Ethiopian bird faunas are closely related but the Australian is considerably more independent. There is a surprising lack of relationship between the Neotropical and Ethiopian regions.26.The bird tribe Corvida (crows, ravens, magpies, etc.) probably originated in Australia. The same is probably true of the parrots and pigeons; their diversity and that of related families is greatest in the southern hemisphere, particularly the Australian Region. A Gondwana history for the latter two has been suggested, but neither family appears to be that old.27.A Gondwana origin has been assumed for the flightless ratite birds, but they evidently originated in the northern hemisphere in the early Tertiary. They are southern hemisphere relicts of a once widely distributed northern group. The penguins, on the other hand, probably originated in the circum-Antarctic area where they are found today.28.In the Order Galliformes, the Megapodiidae of Australia and the Cracidae of South America are considered to be the most primitive taxa. The worldwide galliform pattern of high diversity, with the more advanced genera and species in the Oriental Region, suggests an origin in that area with a dispersal to the New World via Beringia. The alternative of a Gondwana origin has been proposed, but this bird group is probably not pre-Tertiary.29.The most advanced and successful of all the major bird groups are the oscine passeriforms (songbirds). They dominate the avian fauna of the Palearctic, Nearctic, Oriental, and Ethiopian regions. Most of their evolutionary development probably took place in the Old World tropics, and the New World has received most of its songbird fauna from the Old World. Over the world as a whole, the suboscines are probably being replaced by the oscines.30.Among the mammals, the present faunal complex of the Nearctic Regions reflects a strong Palearctic influence which began in the late Cretaceous and continued through most of the Tertiary. Modern North American rodents, sheep, goats, beavers, rabbits, cats, bears, deer, elk, reindeer, and wolves have all evolved from ancestral species that came across the Bering Land Bridge. The sabre-tooth cat, mammoths, and mastodons also invaded from Asia but became extinct in the Pleistocene.31.Although the Palearctic, with its larger area and greater mammalian diversity, exported more genera than it received, there were reciprocal migrations. From the Nearctic, it received camels, tapirs, and five horse genera. Following the connection to Africa in the early Miocene, Asia was invaded by a variety of proboscidean, bovid, and other genera. Other forms migrated northward from the Oriental Region.32.Prior to the Oligocene, Europe was still separated from Asia so that a continuous Palearctic fauna did not exist. In the early Eocene, Europe was invaded by a large number of North American mammals by way of the North Atlantic connection. With the retreat of the Turgai Sea in the Oligocene, Europe was invaded from Asia, so that its modern mammalian fauna has been derived from two main sources.33.The Oriental Region shares most of its mammalian families with the Ethiopian. This mixture began with the early Miocene connection of Africa and Asia through the Arabian Peninsula. The peculiar mammalian fauna of Madagascar was derived from Africa by means of waif dispersal across an oceanic barrier.34.Primitive mammalian stocks may have been introduced to Africa by an occasional connection in the Paleocene. From that time until the early Miocene, the Ethiopian fauna developed in isolation. Among the many endemic families were the higher primates and humans.35.By the early Cretaceous, South America was separated from Africa and, by the late Cretaceous-Paleocene, the peninsular connection to North America was broken. Prior to its 60 Ma of isolation, South America had probably received from North America primitive marsupial, edentate, and ungulate mammals. Playrrhine monkeys and caviomorph rodents may have reached South America by migrating along the Central American island chain in the early Tertiary.36.The completion of the isthmian connection about 3 Ma ago resulted in a significant mammalian interchange between the Americas. Nearly half the families and genera now on the South American continent belong to groups that have emigrated from North America during the past 3 Ma.37.Australia apparently became separated from the rest of Gondwana in the Jurassic. The isolation of Australia ended, to some degree, in the Paleocene-Eocene when a filter route from South America via Antarctica became available. This permitted a limited dispersal to Australia which involved the marsupials but none of the other mammalian groups except a primitive condylarth. Before their arrival, Australia was occupied by only one other land-mammal group, the egg-laying monotremes. Placental rodents apparently arrived from Asia in the early Pliocene.38.Evolution of the modern amphibians had evidently gotten underway by the time Pangaea had become essentially separated into its northern (Laurasian) and southern (Gondwanian) parts. The history of the salamanders has been entirely Laurasian and that of the caecilians almost entirely Gondwanian. The Asian families of caecilians may have been transported there by the Indian plate.39.The early evolutionary history of the frogs may have been Gondwanian, although no primitive frogs or fossils have been found in Australia. The archaic living frog genera in North America and New Zealand are likely to have come from South America-Africa in the Lower Jurassic or even before that.40.Considerable frog evolution took place in South America-Africa before those two continents split apart. Subsequently, frog genera dispersed to North America in the late Cretaceous to early Paleocene and across to Asia via Beringia. Some were transported to Asia by India and others migrated to Asia via the Arabian Peninsula. They probably first reached Australia from South America by means of the Eocene filter route. Despite their aversion to saltwater, frogs have been able to cross many minor oceanic barriers.41.The Upper Triassic to Cretaceous sphenodonts were once widely distributed but now survive only as a single species on small islands off New Zealand. Their relatives, the true lizards, apparently underwent a dichotomy when Laurasia and Gondwana began to separate. The separation produced a southern iguanian group and a northern group ancestral to all other lizards.42.The most primitive true lizards belong to the family Iguanidae. The iguanids are presently found in the New World, Madagascar, and the Fiji and Tonga Islands. Their extinction in Africa may have been caused by competition from more advanced lizards. Many advanced lizard families evolved in Laurasia and some spread into parts of the southern hemisphere.43.Snakes probably arose in Gondwana, most likely in the South American-African region. Two primitive groups reached North America from South America in the late Cretaceous. The archaic family Boidae includes the boas and pythons. The boas are found in the New World, Madagascar, and three isolated localities in Polynesia. The pythons have a complimentary distribution occurring in the Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australian regions. The pythons may have outcompeted the boas so that the latter, like the iguanid lizards, now have a disjunct distribution.44.The more advanced snake families are typical of the Old World tropics with one family (Elapidae) being numerous in Australia and along the west Pacific rim. The poisonous elapids and viperids (Viperidae) have entered the New World via Beringia.45.The most primitive living turtles belong to the group called the side-necked turtles (Pleurodira). There are two families, one in South America-Africa-Madagascar and the other in South America and Australia. The more advanced turtles (Cryptodira) are found mainly on the northern continents. Most of the living genera belong to the family Testudinidae which is most diverse in the Oriental Region.46.Terrestrial plants are usually divided into a series of kingdoms, subkingdoms, regions, and provinces. In general, the kingdoms and subkingdoms are somewhat similar to the regions recognized by zoogeographers.47.The liverworts (hepatophytes) are among the most simple of the land plants. Although they are widely distributed in mesic habitats, they are represented by many primitive, endemic genera in the Antipodes area (New Zealand, Tasmania, southeastern Australia, New Caledonia). Other genera have disjunct distributions in the north temperate zone.48.The pteridophytes tend to be very widespread, but some genera have distributions that have been attributed to a Gondwana origin. There is a curious lack of fern diversity in Africa compared to the Neotropics and southeast Asia.49.Among the gymnosperms, the archaic family Ginkgoaceae was widespread in the Mesozoic but now there is only a single species which is native to eastern China. Another old family, the Araucariaceae, was once broadly distributed in both hemispheres, but now has a relict distribution, primarily in the southern hemisphere. The Cupressaceae are currently widespread in both hemispheres. Three small conifer families have restricted distributions in the far east.50.The family Pinaceae is almost entirely northern hemisphere. Most genera are widespread, but three are restricted to east Asia and one is endemic to North America. The Podocarpaceae is the most diverse southern hemisphere conifer family. Most of the genera are located in the area from southeast Asia to Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, and Fiji.51.The Taxaceae has one widespread northern genus, another with isolated species in North America and east Asia, a third that is confined to east central China, and a fourth that is endemic to New Caledonia.52.The Taxodiaceae, once widespread in the northern hemisphere, is now reduced to a series of discontinuous relicts. Three genera exist in North America, five in east Asia, and one in Tasmania.53.The cycads have four living families. Three of them have limited ranges in the southern hemisphere while one (Zamiaceae) is widespread in the Americas as well as Africa and Australia.54.The most primitive orders and families of the flowering plants are isolated on the periphery of southeast Asia. They extend from Australia and New Guinea out to New Caledonia, Fiji, and a few westward to Madagascar and South America. Many are also found in the mountains of east Asia.55.There are two popular theories about the center of origin of the angiosperms. One of them argues for western Gondwana (South America-Africa) and the other for the general southeast Asian area. The peripheral pattern of most of the primitive orders and families appears to favor the latter.56.As the early angiosperms evolved in the tropics of southeast Asia, they expanded in all directions. During the global warming of the Eocene, many angiosperm families dispersed across Beringia and spread across North America. Some of them reached Europe before the North Atlantic connection was broken in the early Eocene. The evidence for this major migration lies in the close relationships between the modern floras of east Asia and eastern North America.57.The Neotropical Kingdom is a distinctive floral region with 47 endemic families and almost 3000 endemic genera. A barrier to plant dispersal between South America and Africa has probably existed since the early Cretaceous.58.The Paleotropical Kingdom includes all of the Old World tropics and is divided into five subkingdoms. While some 60 families have pantropical distributions, only 12 are shared exclusively between Africa and South America. The Cape region of South Africa is placed in a kingdom of its own.59.The Malesian Region, which includes the southern part of the Malay Peninsula, north to the Philippines and Taiwan, and east to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, possesses an extremely rich flora of more than 25 000 species. It is also characterized by large numbers of archaic angiosperms.60.The Australian Kingdom contains 18 endemic families and 550 endemic genera. Some Australian families of angiosperms and conifers reached South America via Antarctica, probably in the Eocene. Between 50 and 60 genera, or distinctive parts of more-widespread genera, occur principally in Australasia and South America, about half of them in New Zealand alone.61.The Holantarctic Kingdom includes all of the temperate southern hemisphere except southern Australia and Tasmania. The New Zealand flora is most closely related to that of Australia, but about 40% of its fern genera and about 43% of its seed-plant genera are shared with Chile.62.The small island of New Caledonia has seven endemic families and more than 130 endemic genera. The archaic angiosperm genera include six of the twelve known taxa that lack vessels in their woody stems.