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This does not answer John's question but
complicates it. The Concise Oxford Dictionary says "endemic" means
"regularly found among". This does not include any concept of
exclusivity. Therefore on that basis, the Thylacine, Night Parrot or Painted
Snipe are not endemic to Australia, because they are not regularly found
here. This seems odd, as at least two of them are certainly native to and
restricted to Australia and these species have always been so. However, on that
basis, the Rabbit and the Common Starling certainly are endemic to
Australia, because they are regularly found here. Clearly this dictionary meaning is not the way we use the
word.
In our usual context, such as Webster's
Dictionary has it, endemic means two different things, quite different from the
Concise Oxford Dictionary meaning. Sadly, people rarely define which meaning
they are using: native to or restricted to. In the first meaning
the Peregrine Falcon and Barn Owl (etc.) and Latham's Snipe are endemic to
Australia but in the second meaning they are not. This is because they occur
naturally in Australia and many other places. Webster's Dictionary does
not distinguish between restricted to or native to, so that makes the question
about migrants an ambiguous one. However their third meaning refers to peculiar
to.
Hence the value in the rather nasty sounding
word "autochthonous", which relates to a species that still exists in
the region in which it first developed. Such as kangaroos are autochthonous to
Australia & New Guinea. This is probably a more important measure than is
"endemic", even though we don't always know the answer and the
dividing line is unclear. The Grey Falcon probably evolved in Australia but the genus Falco probably did not. So where is the
dividing line? Biology doesn't always have them, so sometimes it confuses us to
try to find them.
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From:
John Leonard <>
To:
<>
Date:
Monday, 28 January 2002 14:31
Subject: [BIRDING-AUS]
endemics
What is the definition of an Australian
endemic?
Could you, for example include spp which only breed in
Australia, but winter
further north, or does the sp have to stay in
Australia all the time as
well?
Is there a list of Australian
endemics?
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John
Leonard (Dr)
m("hotmail.com","calyptorhynchus");">
http://users.bigpond.com/john.leonard
PO
Box 243, Woden, ACT 2606,
Australia
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