X-Nico

2 unusual facts about Oceanic dispersal


Island hopping

Oceanic dispersal in biology, where terrestrial species migrate by sea from one landmass to another, is often achieved by rafting on mats of tangled vegetation—the outcome of which is called a rafting event.

Oceanic dispersal

Similarly, skinks of the related genera Mabuya and Trachylepis apparently both floated across the Atlantic from Africa to South America and Fernando de Noronha, respectively, during the last 9 Ma.


Brachylophus

These iguanas have been hypothesized to have evolved from New World iguanas that rafted 10,000 km west across the Pacific Ocean with the aid of the South Equatorial Current.


see also