The historical biogeography of terrestrial gamebirds (Aves: Galliformes)

Includes bibliographical references (p.36-44). === Whilst the phylogenetic relations of gamebirds are now well understood, there is a great lack of consensus on their biogeographical relationships. It has been suggested that the basal galliform clades, namely the megapodes from Australasia and the c...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Van der Merwe, Vincent Charl
Other Authors: Crowe, Timothy M
Format: Dissertation
Language:English
Published: University of Cape Town 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12636
Description
Summary:Includes bibliographical references (p.36-44). === Whilst the phylogenetic relations of gamebirds are now well understood, there is a great lack of consensus on their biogeographical relationships. It has been suggested that the basal galliform clades, namely the megapodes from Australasia and the cracids from South and Central America, have their origins in the northern hemisphere and have colonised the southern hemisphere more recently. Those in favour of a Northern Hemisphere origin suggest that stem galliforms originated only after the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction event.