Publication Date:
2014-10-27
Description:
Owing to their limited possibilities for either active or passive dispersal, their association with the soil habitat, their vulnerability towards a dry atmosphere, and, in fact, on account of their general ecology and ethology, Diplopoda among arthropods are surely one of the most important classes in relation to the study of historical biogeography. For the class as a whole the sea appears to be an unsuperable barrier as is proved by the almost complete absence of endemic taxa on oceanic islands. In many cases lowland plains also act as severe obstacles against the dispersal of millipedes. The presence or absence of diplopods on islands or continents, therefore, may give a strong argument in favour or against any supposed former land connection.
The long geographical isolation of the Australian continent and the absence of endemic higher taxa seems to imply that most, if not all, of its diplopod fauna dates from the time this continent was solidly attached to other southern continents, i.e. the Mesozoic. Subsequent penetration of fauna elements from the north or northwest seems utterly unlikely, although perhaps not entirely impossible.
Repository Name:
National Museum of Natural History, Netherlands
Type:
Article / Letter to the editor
Format:
application/pdf
