Re: ancient giant frog Beelsebufo ampinga

[evelyn sobielski <koreke77@yahoo.de>]

> > Madagascar detached from Africa 160 million years
> ago,
> 
> Yeah, but not from India, or perhaps I should say
> the Seychelles.
> 
> > and South America separated from Africa 100
> million years ago.
> 
> Yeah, but not from Antarctica.
> 
> > South America was still connected
> > to Antarctica as recently as 42 million years ago,
> but a land bridge
> > between Madagascar and Antarctica is speculation.
>
> India and Antarctica, that is.

My my, préfet Pilloton would probably not be delighted
to hear his Kerguelen islands being called a
"speculation"...
 
> India and the Seychelles only broke apart during the
> Deccan Traps eruptions.

The uncertainty here is probably the timing of the
final detachment of India-Madagascar-Seychelles and
Antarctica.

And then there is _Platymantis vitiensis_ whose
ancestors would have been in quite a bit of trouble
looking for a land bridge to Fiji.

The most likely time window for migration from SAm to
Madagascar would then be around 100-90 mya, roughly
(because you had to miss the chance to hop to Africa).

It stands to note that much of the Kerguelen-Heard
microcontinent seems to have been dry land just about
that time.

An alternative scenario would be that the pacman frogs
and _Beelzebufo_ represent a western and an eastern
radiation out of Antarctica. Not having read the
paper, I don't know if there's anything to it.


Eike


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