On Tue, Oct 22, 2002 at 05:43:30PM +1000, Sean Dooley wrote:
> On a small cleared area nearby a pair of
> Sarus Cranes- another relative newcomer to the Australian list- were
> strutting their stuff giving me a good look at the fine differences
> that separate them from Brolga.
I first read this as Sean saying Sarus Cranes were recent arrivals to
Australia leading me to chase up some refs I'd remembered seeing.
DNA data suggests they've been in Australia since the late Pleistocene
(10000+ years), longer than previously thought.
Similar data suggests that Brolgas reached Australia ~2000000 years ago
and that the closest relative of Brolgas might be the White-naped Crane,
not the Sarus despite their similarity.
But the presence of Sarus Cranes in Australia was only recognized in
the last 50 years - no doubt what Sean meant.
The refs are appended (I only could get the abstract of the first).
Andrew
Wood TC. Krajewski C. MITOCHONDRIAL DNA SEQUENCE VARIATION AMONG THE
SUBSPECIES OF SARUS CRANE (GRUS ANTIGONE). [Article] Auk. 113(3):655-663,
1996 Jul.
Krajewski C. Wood TC. MITOCHONDRIAL DNA RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THE SARUS
CRANE SPECIES GROUP (GRUIFORMES, GRUIDAE). [Article] Emu. 95(Part
2):99-105, 1995 Jun.
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