When evolution says what animals look like

Dr. Philip Bethge, CC BY-SA 4.0 

.Joel. Kontinen

According to evolution, the movement of species across newly connected continents that happened millions of years ago still shapes flora and fauna today.

Skeels et al. reported that that species’ dispersal ability, climate tolerances, and the climate in which they assuming evolved help to explain why biotic exchanges are typically unequal, with more species spreading from one continent than the other.

“Using a model simulating species ranges and diversification paired with paleoenvironmental reconstructions, the authors found that precipitation tolerance influenced vertebrate species movements across Wallace’s Line, which separates the distinct biota of Australia and New Guinea from that of Southeast Asia.”

According to them, species that evolved in dry Australia were less able to cross to Asia, whereas the swath of tropical forest across the region allowed more species to move in the other direction through New Guinea.

But where is the evolution

"Because marsupials and monotreme  . lack a jaw joint at birth, researchers have previously suggested that the animals may use the connection between the middle ear bones and the jaw bones to eat," explains lead researcher Neal Anthwal, from the Center for Craniofacial and Regenerative Biology, King's College, UK at the London Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Science.

Source:

Lopez, Bianca, 2023. When continents collide, Science . 7 July