The Historical Biogeography of the Strepsirhini Understanding the Colonization of Madagascar

About this book

The origins of Madagascar's unique flora and fauna have occupied scientists since the acceptance of evolution.

This publication explores the question of how lemurs came to reach their current geographic distribution. Contributors from a range of disciplines sought to answer the following questions:
- What is our best estimate of the timing and sequence of continental movements in and around the Indian Ocean?
- Is there evidence of connections that could have served as migration routes between land masses, and when might they have been present?
- What does the nonprimate vertebrate fauna on Madagascar indicate about the timing and direction of potential dispersal routes?
- What does the fossil record imply about the biology of early lemuriforms and their relatives?
- What does molecular phylogenetics indicate about relationships among living lemuriforms, and what does this imply about the lemuriform and lemuroid
ancestors?
- What can biogeographic methods contribute to our understanding of lemuriform origins?
- Is there any evidence that the capacity for heterothermy has assisted overwater dispersal in mammals?

The multidisciplinary nature of the contributions to this volume make it uniquely valuable to primatologists (and primate evolutionists in particular), evolutionary biologists and biogeographers.

Special issue of Folia Primatologica 2006, Vol. 77, No. 6

Contents

Reconciling the Origins of Africa, India and Madagascar with Vertebrate Dispersal Scenarios: Masters, J.C.; de Wit, M.J.; Asher, R.J.; Malagasy Primate Origins: Phylogenies, Fossils, and Biogeographic Reconstructions: Stevens, N.J.; Heesy, C.P.; A Composite Molecular Phylogeny of Living Lemuroid Primates: DelPero, M.; Pozzi, L.; Masters, J.C.; Lemuriform Origins as Viewed from the Fossil Record: Godinot, M.; Lack of Torpor in Free-Ranging Southern Lesser Galagos, Galago moholi: Ecological and Physiological Considerations: Mzilikazi, N.; Masters, J.C.; Lovegrove, B.G.; Historical Biogeography of the Strepsirhine Primates of Madagascar: Tattersall, I.; Author Index; Subject Index.

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