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Marsupial biogeography and plate tectonics

  • Chapter
The Biology of Marsupials

Part of the book series: Studies in Biology, Economy and Society

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Abstract

It would not be difficult to append to this paper a very long list of questions, each reflecting an uncertainty, the resolution of which is probably relevant to the problem of marsupial biogeography. Some of these questions would be biological, some palaeontological, and a large group would be geophysical. While reconstructions of former continental positions, such as those of Dietz and Holden (1970) or Briden, Drewry and Smith (1974), may be tempting points of reference for the biologist, they are continually under challenge. Doubt exists both on obvious points such as the positions of India and Madagascar and on less obvious ones like those raised. by Burrett (1974), who suggests that Asia comprised nine blocks that only fused well into the Mesozoic. Similar doubts about the nature of Antarctica will be discussed later and might also be raised in relation to Australia (McElhinny and Embleton, 1974).

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Authors
  1. P. G. Martin
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science, University of Bradford, England

    Bernard Stonehouse

  2. Department of Physiology, University of Glasgow, Scotland

    Desmond Gilmore

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© 1977 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Martin, P.G. (1977). Marsupial biogeography and plate tectonics. In: Stonehouse, B., Gilmore, D. (eds) The Biology of Marsupials. Studies in Biology, Economy and Society. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-02721-7_6

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