Evidence For Pacific Vicariance

Above: The Late Cretaceous World of Meinong's Jungle According to Plate Tectonics
(It's dominated by gravitation which allows pterosaurs the size of giraffes to defy it, and by Dark Matter of course)

Vs.

Below: The Real World of Biogeography and Dennis J. McCarthy (Yeah yeah, another McCarthy puff piece I know...:P)

Vicariance: The separation or division of a group of organisms by a geographic barrier, such as a mountain or a body of water, resulting in differentiation of the original group into new varieties or species.

"The notion of random, and sometimes two-way, 'rafting' across the wide oceans ... evinces, however, a weakening of the scientific outlook, if not a confession of doubt from the standpoint of organic evolution." -- Alexander Du Toit, geologist, 1844

Chilean Flat Oyster

Ostrea chilensis is endemic to Chile and New Zealand.

"Currently, a significant number of distributional facts, particularly involving oceanic disjunctions of poor-dispersing taxa, are in direct conflict with conventional paleomaps of the Mesozoic Pacific and Tethys."
McCarthy, D.J., Biogeographical and Geological Evidence for a Smaller, Completely-Enclosed Pacific Basin in the Late Cretaceous, Journal of Biogeography, Volume 32, Issue 12, Pages 2161 - 2177, 2005

"Many researchers have dealt with these inconsistencies by ignoring basic biogeographical realities and positing a radical cross-ocean rafting dispersal hypothesis to explain the problematic disjunctions."
Foighil, D.O., et al., Trans-Pacific Range Extension by Rafting Is Inferred for the Flat Oyster Ostrea chilensis, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Volume 13, Pages 1087-1105, 1996

However, the flat oyster, Ostrea chilensis, does not have an extended pelagic phase suggesting alternative tectonic theories.
McCarthy, D.J., Biogeography and Scientific Revolutions, The Systematist, Number 25, Pages 3-12, 2005

Sphenodon (Tuatara)



"Sphenodontian reptiles successfully radiated during Triassic and Jurassic times, but were driven almost to extinction during the Cretaceous period."
Apesteguía, S., and Novas, F.E., Large Cretaceous Sphenodontian From Patagonia Provides Insight Into Lepidosaur Evolution In Gondwana, Nature, Volume 425, Pages 609-612, Oct 2003
Miller, H.C., Belov, K., and Daugherty, C.H., Characterization of MHC Class II Genes From An Ancient Reptile Lineage, Sphenodon (Tuatara), Immunogenetics, Volume 57, Number 11, Pages 883-891, Nov 2005
Miller, H.C., Belov, K., and Daugherty, C.H., MHC Class I Genes in the Tuatara (Sphenodon spp.): Evolution of the MHC in an Ancient Reptilian Order, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Proceedings of the SMBE Tri-National Young Investigators' Workshop, 2005

"The fossil record of sphenodontids in the Southern Hemisphere is much longer than in Laurasia, where they became extinct after Early Cretaceous times."
Apesteguía, S., A Late Campanian Sphenodontid (Reptilia, Diapsida) From Northern Patagonia, Comptes Rendus Palevol, Volume 4, Issue 8, Pages 663-669, Dec 2005

"At the end of the Early Cretaceous the once abundant sphenodontians vanished from the Laurasian record and were thought to have become virtually extinct."
Apesteguía, S., and Rougier, G.W., A Late Campanian Sphenodontid Maxilla from Northern Patagonia, American Museum Novitates, Volume 3581, Pages 1-11, 2007

"Recent works demonstrated the persistence of at least eilenodontine sphenodontids until the ‘mid’-Cretaceous of Patagonia."
Apesteguía, S., A Late Campanian Sphenodontid (Reptilia, Diapsida) From Northern Patagonia, Comptes Rendus Palevol, Volume 4, Issue 8, Pages 663-669, Dec 2005

"The most recent fossil relatives of the only living sphenodon, New Zealand's lizard-like Tuatara, are the Late Cretaceous sphenodontians of Patagonia."
Apesteguía, S., and Novas, F.E., Large Cretaceous Sphenodontian From Patagonia Provides Insight Into Lepidosaur Evolution In Gondwana, Nature, Volume 425, Pages 609-612, Oct 2003

said lead study author Marc Jones, a postdoctoral fellow at University College London. "If we look at the transoceanic capabilities of the modern [tuatara], it can swim but only short distances. It is able to survive without food for several months, but dehydration would be a serious problem for a long journey."

Paleontologist Ewan Fordyce, a professor at the University of Otago who was not involved in the study, said another problem with the theory is an apparent lack of a mainland tuatara population that could have recolonized the islands.

"If tuatara had actually migrated here after [Zealandia went underwater], we would expect to find a fossil record in nearby land areas like Australia," he said, "and they're just not there."

Hansford, D., Tuatara Ancestor Adds to "Sunken New Zealand" Debate, National Geographic News, Jan 2009

So the question is naturally raised, if the Paleomaps of the Late Cretaceous are correct, how did the tuatara teleport from Patagonia to New Zealand in the Late Cretaceous, without leaving a single descendant in between if they were separated by the Pacific Ocean?
McCarthy, D.J., Biogeographical and Geological Evidence for a Smaller, Completely-Enclosed Pacific Basin in the Late Cretaceous, Journal of Biogeography, Volume 32, Issue 12, Pages 2161 - 2177, 2005
McCarthy, D.J., Biogeography and Scientific Revolutions, The Systematist, Number 25, Pages 3-12, 2005

Fiji Banded Iguana



Fiji's banded iguana Brachylophus is closely related to the Fiji crested iguana and the two are related to the Californian iguanid Dipsosaurus better known as the desert iguana and possibly also the green iguana.
Sites, J.W., Jr., et al., Character Congruence and Phylogenetic Signal In Molecular and Morphological Data Sets: A Case Study In The Living Iguanas (Squamata, Iguanidae), Molecular Biology and Evolution, Volume 13, Pages 1087-1105, 1996

How they arrived on the shores of Fiji and other Pacific islands is a puzzle. One theory is that they rafted some 13-million years ago.
Hello Hello: New Species Found In Fiji, New Zealand Associated Press, Sep 2008

The disjunction of the Fijian banded iguana and its California sister requires, according to conventional paleomaps, an 8000 - 12000 km rafting trip, mostly over hypothetical (i.e. currently nonexistent) seafloor. This is more than three times longer than the now forsaken trans-Atlantic rafting trips put forth to save continental stabalism. This hypothetical trip would be the greatest oceanic jaunt of any taxon in the history of terrestrial vertibrates - and by far. Yet the banded iguana is restricted to Fiji-Tonga and appears on no other oceanic islands.

McCarthy, D.J., Biogeography and Scientific Revolutions, The Systematist, Number 25, Pages 3-12, 2005

If a one month rafting trip for green iguanas is stretching the limits of hydration and imagination then surely a two year rafting trip is impossible.
Rivera, R., Rafting Iguanas, Science World, Jan 1999

Marsupials



The discovery of Chinese marsupials, particularly the oldest known marsupial Sinodelphys szalayi which lived in China 125 million years ago, is a deathblow to plate tectonics. How did marsupials teleport from China to South America?
Rincon, P., Oldest Marsupial Ancestor Found, BBC, Dec 2003
Pickrell, J., Oldest Marsupial Fossil Found in China, National Geographic, December 2003
Klinger, M.A., Sinodelphys szalayi, Carnegie Mellon Natural History, 2003

Monkeys



"Monkeys do not appear on any oceanic island so if they do have the ability to raft across oceans, it is apparently a talent they do not like to flaunt."
Mittermeier, R.A., et al., Nowak (ed) Walker's Primates of the World, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999
McCarthy, D.J., Biogeography and Scientific Revolutions, The Systematist, Number 25, Pages 3-12, 2005

Cichlids

The only study done on saltwater tolerance of Malagasy cichlids confirmed that their exposure to saltwater was 100% fatal after 12 hours. Cichlids have been unable to reach any oceanic island and have a predominantly Gondwanan distribution, showing the precise sister relationships predicted by vicariance: Africa-South America and India-Madagascar. The dispersal hypothesis requires freshwater cichlids to have negotiated thousands of kilometers of open ocean between India and Madagascar without colonizing any other island or, for that matter, crossing the Mozambique Channel to Africa. Apparently, these taxa like to confine their oceanic jaunts between regions that were once connected. Chakrabarty concludes from his review of phylogenetic analyses that vicariance is the only explanation.

Chakrabarty, P., Cichlid Biogeography: Comment and Review, Fish and Fisheries, Volume 5, Issue 2, Pages 97-119, May 2004
McCarthy, D.J., Biogeography and Scientific Revolutions, The Systematist, Number 25, Pages 3-12, 2005

Biogeography of the Tuatara Dispells the Zealandia Myth

Another Plate Tectonics myth in the toilet where it belongs: Unusual fossil may rule out ancient flood.

It is said that in the mists of time, the islands of New Zealand were lost, Atlantis-like, beneath the ocean. But a newly discovered fossil reptile suggests this [so-called] theory does not hold water.

Marc Jones of University College London, UK, and colleagues found the portions of fossilised reptile jaw on New Zealand's South Island.

The wear patterns of the teeth suggest its owner had two parallel rows of upper teeth, and a single row of lower teeth that slotted in between. The only reptile known to have this type of jaw is the endangered tuatara and its ancestors.

With its spiny crest and unique jaw, the lizard-like tuatara is remarkable even among New Zealand's extraordinary wildlife. But what is most exciting about Jones's fossil is its age: it dates to just 3 million years after a time when some researchers have suggested the land mass that forms New Zealand sank beneath the waves.

Banded Iguanas: A 3 Year Tour

In my TV watching days (before my brain was developed) I used to watch reruns of popular "sitcom" shows like Gilligan's Island.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship. The mate was a mighty sailin' man, the skipper brave and sure. Five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour. A three hour tour.

OK. A 3 hour tour is believable. So what about a 3 year tour with no water? But not by humans. I'm talking about iguanas of course.

Can iguanas raft for 7,000 miles with no water and then mate on the other side?

Via Retardipedia: Fiji Banded Iguana.

These iguanas are believed to have evolved from green iguanas that rafted on debris across 7,000 miles of Pacific Ocean from South America some 13 million years ago.

The farthest I've seen is 200 miles. A 1 month journey with no water: Rafting Iguanas.

Incredibly, in September 1995, 15 green iguanas were swept out to sea after hurricane Luis blasted the island of Guadeloupe. The lizards clung for life to a mat of uprooted trees for some 320 kilometers (200 miles), until one month later they washed up on the island of Anguilla (an-GWI-luh). Local fishermen who spotted the iguanas surfing ashore were stunned.

So in other words, the trip to Fiji-Tonga would be a 35 month journey with no water.

Hmm, maybe Hume was wrong about miracles after all.

Or maybe not.



"Fiji's banded iguana Brachylophus is sister to the Californian iguanid, Dipsosaurus (Sites et al., 1996) and iguanas appear nowhere else in the Central or West Pacific." (McCarthy 2005)

"The most likely reason for the distributional pattern of... banded iguanas is not because of a conspiracy of local environmental circumstances that somehow prevented long term colonization of every other oceanic island in the world.... A more reasonable explanation is that the papers disputing the geological paleomaps and molecular clock assumptions are, in fact, correct." (McCarthy 2005)

Sites, et al., Character Congruence and Phylogenetic Signal in Molecular and Morphological Data Sets: a Case Study in the Living Iguanas (Squamata, Iguanidae), Molecular Biology and Evolution, Volume 13, Pages 1087-1105, 1996

Yoon, C.K., Hapless Iguanas Float Away And Voyage Grips Biologists, New York Times, Oct 1998

Rivera, R., Rafting Iguanas, Science World, Jan 1999

McCarthy, D.D., Biogeography and Scientific Revolutions, The Systematist, Number 25, Pages 3-12, 2005

And speaking of TV watching, Season 1 of The History Channel's The Universe is now available on Blu-Ray from Amazon.Com.



Oh and in case you can't get the stupid Gilligan's Island Theme Song out of your head, listen to The Dune Sea of Tatooine, The Moisture Farm, and Landspeeder Search/Attack of the Sand People by John Williams. It's good desert iguana music.

Biogeographical Falsification of Subduction

If the Pacific Ocean/Ring of Fire is shrinking in size as required by subduction, how is it possible that Australia was once connected to South America?



Most of the marsupials alive today are confined to South America and Australia.



Via Retardipedia:

There are about 334 species of marsupial, and over 200 are native to Australia and neighboring northern islands. There are also 100 extant American species; these are centered mostly in South America

Harrison, L., The Migration Route of the Australian Marsupial Fauna, Australian Zoologist, Volume 3, Pages 247-263, 1924

McCarthy, D.D., The Trans-Pacific Zipper Effect: Disjunct Sister Taxa and Matching Geological Outlines That Link the Pacific Margins, Journal of Biogeography, Volume 30, Issue 10, Pages 1545-1561, 2003

"Biogeographic arguments for a closed Pacific (just like biogeographic arguments for a closed Atlantic and closed Indian) are based on evolutionary theory. Specifically, according to the theory of evolution, you can't have a host of closely-related, poor dispersing taxa suddenly appearing on opposite sides of an ocean -- when it is highly improbable for any of the ancestral taxa to cross oceans. So according to the referenced paper above, unless plate tectonic theorists want to rely on divine intervention, a slew of creation stories or a myriad of impossible trans-oceanic crossings of terrestrial taxa, their paleomaps are wrong. Panthalassa could not have existed between all of the hundred plus referenced taxa, which is to say, it didn't exist." -- Dennis D. McCarthy, geoscientist, 2003

Briggs, J.C., The Ultimate Expanding Earth Hypothesis, Journal of Biogeography, Volume 31, Issue 5, Pages 855 - 857, 2004

McCarthy, D.D., Biogeographical and Geological Evidence for a Smaller, Completely-Enclosed Pacific Basin in the Late Cretaceous, Journal of Biogeography, Volume 32, Issue 12, Pages 2161 - 2177, 2005

Ali, J.R., Biogeographical and Geological Evidence for a Smaller, Completely-Enclosed Pacific basin in the Late Cretaceous: a Comment, Journal of Biogeography, Volume 33, Issue 9, Pages 1670-1674, 2006

Briggs, J.C., Another Expanding Earth Paper, Journal of Biogeography, Volume 33, Issue 9, Pages 1674 - 1676, 2006

Ebach, M.C., and Tangney, R.S., Biogeography in a Changing World, 2007

"The present-day cordilleran system of eastern Australia was formed in still earlier times; it arose at the same time as the earlier folds in South and North America, which formed the basis of the Andes (pre- cordilleras), at the leading edge of the continental blocks, then drifting as a whole before dividing." -- Wegener, A.L., The Origin of Continents and Oceans, 1915

UPDATE: Dennis D. McCarthy is an important genius and I put him up there with Tassos. His website is called The Fourth Revolt.

See video: here.