The Phytogeography of New Caledonia

Abstract

There are dangers in interpreting biogeographic patterns solely in terms of broad events in the geological history of an area though such patterns often show good correlation with geography (Holloway & Jardine, 1968). Holloway (1969, 1974a) related patterns in the distribution of butterflies in the Indian area to the drift of India northwards in the Tertiary. He suggested that these patterns were consistent with land contact between peninsular India and Asia having been made in the late Tertiary, resulting in the breakdown of a barrier to floral and faunal exchange between the two. Geological literature then available suggested that this barrier might have been a steadily decreasing water gap.