birding-aus

Re: falcons and biogeography

To:
Subject: Re: falcons and biogeography
From: Michael Craig <>
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 17:56:26 +0800
John,

Whilst not my field of expertise. I believe that current thinking is that
the New Zealand Falcon and the Brown Falcon are quite closely related and
certainly more closely related than they are to any other falcons. This
would seem logical biogeographically. Current thought is also that the Grey
and Black Falcons are more closely related to each other than to other
falcons. As to the debate as to where falcons originated. The lack of
other, less specialised, genera indicates that it is not Australia. However
this does not mean that falcons could not have invaded here at an early
stage, radiated and then re-invaded the rest of the world.

Mike Craig




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Craig
Zoology Department
University of Western Australia
Nedlands
Western Australia
Australia 6907
Ph: +61 9 380 1495  Fax: +61 9 380 1029
email: 



<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU