McCall R A
Department of Zoology, Oxford University, OX1 3PS, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 1997 May 22;264(1382):663-5. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1997.0094.
Madagascar separated from continental Africa during the break-up of Gondwanaland early in the Cretaceous. The presence of several terrestrial mammalian groups on Madagascar is paradoxical as (i) these groups postdate the departure of Madagascar from Africa: and ii) terrestrial mammals are poor dispersers across wide water barriers. Recent geological studies focusing on the Davie Fracture Zone of the Mozambique Channel offer a resolution to this situation, by suggesting the presence of a land-bridge from the mid-Eocene to the early Miocene, an interval that matches the ages of Madagascar's mammalian groups.
马达加斯加在白垩纪早期冈瓦纳大陆分裂期间与非洲大陆分离。马达加斯加存在几种陆生哺乳动物群体，这一现象自相矛盾，原因如下：（i）这些群体出现的时间晚于马达加斯加与非洲分离的时间；（ii）陆生哺乳动物很难跨越宽阔的水域屏障。最近针对莫桑比克海峡达维断裂带的地质研究为这一情况提供了解释，研究表明，从中始新世到早中新世期间存在一条陆桥，这一时期与马达加斯加哺乳动物群体的出现时间相吻合。
