The characteristic koalas, kangaroos, possums and wombats of Australia share a common American ancestor, according to genetic research from Germany.
A University of Muenster team drew up a marsupial family tree based on DNA.
Writing in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Biology journal, they suggest a single marsupial species moved from the Americas to Australia.
Marsupials differ from other mammals in that mothers carry their young in a pouch after birth.
As well as the familiar Australian species, the family includes the opossums and shrew opossums of North and South America, and also has a presence in Asian countries including Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
"I think this is pretty strong evidence now for the hypothesis of a single migration [to Australia] and a common ancestor," said Juergen Schmitz, one of the research team
Born, like other comic book characters, out of an otherwise trivial but life-changing animal bite, the Rabid Librarian seeks out strange, useless facts, raves about real and perceived injustices, and seeks to meet her greatest challenge of all--her own life.
Translate
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Huh! Who knew?
Australia's marsupials 'have American roots'
Labels:
Genetics,
Marsupials
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment