Madagascar's extraordinary biodiversity: Evolution, distribution, and use

A Antonelli, RJ Smith, AL Perrigo, A Crottini, J Hackel… - Science, 2022 - science.org
Madagascar's biota is hyperdiverse and includes exceptional levels of endemicity. We
review the current state of knowledge on Madagascar's past and current terrestrial and …

The colonisation of Madagascar by land‐bound vertebrates

JR Ali, SB Hedges - Biological Reviews, 2023 - Wiley Online Library
Despite discussions extending back almost 160 years, the means by which Madagascar's
iconic land vertebrates arrived on the island remains the focus of active debate. Three …

[HTML][HTML] Combining global tree cover loss data with historical national forest cover maps to look at six decades of deforestation and forest fragmentation in Madagascar

G Vieilledent, C Grinand, FA Rakotomalala… - Biological …, 2018 - Elsevier
The island of Madagascar has a unique biodiversity, mainly located in the tropical forests of
the island. This biodiversity is highly threatened by anthropogenic deforestation. Existing …

Molecular and fossil evidence place the origin of cichlid fishes long after Gondwanan rifting

M Friedman, BP Keck, A Dornburg… - … of the Royal …, 2013 - royalsocietypublishing.org
Cichlid fishes are a key model system in the study of adaptive radiation, speciation and
evolutionary developmental biology. More than 1600 cichlid species inhabit freshwater and …

Escarpment evolution drives the diversification of the Madagascar flora

Y Liu, Y Wang, SD Willett, NE Zimmermann, L Pellissier - Science, 2024 - science.org
Madagascar exhibits high endemic biodiversity that has evolved with sustained and stable
rates of speciation over the past several tens of millions of years. The topography of …

Ancient DNA elucidates the lost world of western Indian Ocean giant tortoises and reveals a new extinct species from Madagascar

C Kehlmaier, E Graciá, JR Ali, PD Campbell… - Science …, 2023 - science.org
Before humans arrived, giant tortoises occurred on many western Indian Ocean islands. We
combined ancient DNA, phylogenetic, ancestral range, and molecular clock analyses with …

Spatial and temporal arrival patterns of Madagascar's vertebrate fauna explained by distance, ocean currents, and ancestor type

KE Samonds, LR Godfrey, JR Ali… - Proceedings of the …, 2012 - National Acad Sciences
How, when, and from where Madagascar's vertebrates arrived on the island is poorly known,
and a comprehensive explanation for the distribution of its organisms has yet to emerge. We …

Biogeographic mechanisms involved in the colonization of Madagascar by African vertebrates: Rifting, rafting and runways

JC Masters, F Génin, Y Zhang, R Pellen… - Journal of …, 2021 - Wiley Online Library
Aim For 80 years, popular opinion has held that most of Madagascar's terrestrial vertebrates
arrived from Africa by transoceanic dispersal (ie rafting or swimming). We reviewed this …

A necessarily complex model to explain the biogeography of the amphibians and reptiles of Madagascar

JL Brown, A Cameron, AD Yoder, M Vences - Nature communications, 2014 - nature.com
Pattern and process are inextricably linked in biogeographic analyses, though we can
observe pattern, we must infer process. Inferences of process are often based on ad hoc …

First cranial remains of a gondwanatherian mammal reveal remarkable mosaicism

DW Krause, S Hoffmann, JR Wible, EC Kirk, JA Schultz… - Nature, 2014 - nature.com
Previously known only from isolated teeth and lower jaw fragments recovered from the
Cretaceous and Palaeogene of the Southern Hemisphere, the Gondwanatheria constitute …