A lthough the dinosaurs are gone, extant vertebrates provide clues to the development of photorecep-tion among the clades that probably preceded and then radiated into the dinosaurs. The ancient order Rhyncho-cephalia, which includes Sphenodon as its only family, with two surviving species, had its heyday between 200 million and 100 million years ago. While this order is reptilian, these creatu...

The Zingiberales are a group of primarily tropical monocots that includes eight families, ca. 96 genera, and about 2,000 species. Phylogenetic results based on sequence data and morphology show that the four “banana-families” (Musaceae, Lowiaceae, Strelitziaceae, and Heliconiaceae) share the plesiomorphic state of five or six fertile stamens and comprise a basal paraphyletic assemblage. The fou...

The estimation of phylogenetic relationships is an essential component of understanding evolution. Accurate phylogenetic estimation is difficult, however, when internodes are short and old, when genealogical discordance is common due to large ancestral effective population sizes or ancestral population structure, and when homoplasy is prevalent. Inference of divergence times is also hampered by...

Deposits of the Warchha Sandstone in the Salt Range, Pakistan are characterised by a range of fluvial facies and architectural elements that together preserve a record of both the proximal and distal parts of a meandering river system that drained the northern margin of Gondwanaland. Several fining-upward cycles are recognised and completely preserved cycles can be divided in to three parts; a ...

Recently several investigators (1-5) have discussed the immigration of the primitive mammals (monotremes and marsupials) to Australia. The oldest fossils that have been found are probably Early Miocene in age (6). Interest in the subject has been stimulated by the profound changes in the thinking of geologists that have occurred during the past decade on the old problem of a postulated supercon...

Palaeomagnetic apparent polar wander (APW) paths from the world’s cratons at 1300–700 Ma can constrain the palaeogeographic possibilities for a long-lived and all-inclusive Rodinia supercontinent. Laurentia’s APW path is the most complete and forms the basis for superposition by other cratons’ APW paths to identify possible durations of those cratons’ inclusion in Rodinia, and also to generate ...

Approximately 90% of the upper crust exposed in southern Jordan is composed of intrusive rocks of latest Neoproterozoic age, grouped into two major subdivisions: the Aqaba (600–640 Ma) and the Araba (560–600 Ma) complexes. The Aqaba complex comprises several suites that range in composition from gabbro to high silica granite (45–80% SiO2) and follow a high-K calc-alkaline trend. This phase, whi...

A phylogenetic tree for acrodont lizards (Chamaeleonidae and Agamidae) is established based on 1434 bases (1041 informative) of aligned DNA positions from a 1685-1778 base pair region of the mitochondrial genome. Sequences from three protein-coding genes (ND1, ND2, and COI) are combined with sequences from eight intervening tRNA genes for samples of 70 acrodont taxa and two outgroups. Parsimony...

We have recorded with the magnetic search coil method the spontaneous saccades of two species of predatory birds, which differ in the relative importance of panoramic and fovea1 vision. The little eagle (Haliaetus morphnoides) hunts from great heights and has no predators, whereas the tawny frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) hunts from perches near the ground, is preyed upon, and frequently adopts...

The “Wet Tropics” of Australia host a unique variety plant lineages that trace their origins to the super-continent Gondwanaland. While these “ancient” evolutionary records are rightly emphasized in current management region, multidisciplinary research and lobbying by Rainforest Aboriginal Peoples have also demonstrated significance cultural heritage Tropics.” Here, we evaluate existing archeol...