Long-distance dispersal and the reef-building corals of the Eastern Pacific

✍ Scribed by K. L. Heck; E. D. McCoy

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1978
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 773 KB
• Volume: 48
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0025-3162
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00391639

✦ Synopsis

It is c u r r e n t l y w i d e l y a c c e p t e d that the h e r m a t y p i c coral fauna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean u n d e r w e n t m a s s i v e e x t i n c t i o n during the mid-Tertiary, with subsequent t r a n s o c e a n i c c o l o n i z a t i o n by planulae from the Indo-West Pacific region during periods of favorable conditions. We suggest that the available evidence does not strongly support this b i o g e o g r a p h i c hypothesis; moreover, we contend that it is u n t e s t a b l e in its present form. In its place we propose an a l t e r n a t i v e h y p o t h e s i s based upon m o d i f i c a t i o n of a p r e v i o u s l y widespread, p a n -T e t h y a n coral biota which has since been m o d i f i e d by tectonic events, speciations, and extinctions.