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Insularity and Its Effect on Mammal Evolution

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Major Patterns in Vertebrate Evolution

Part of the book series: NATO Advanced Study Institutes Series ((NSSB,volume 14))

Abstract

When the car ferry “Rethymnon” sails from Piraeus towards Crete one can already feel the strong endemic atmosphere of the island. Rethymnon itself is a beautiful historical town on Crete in an area containing many Pleistocene fossil mammal localities which have yielded endemic deer, elephants and murids. A striking thing on board the ferry are notices written in Japanese which suggest that the ship was probably not launched under the name Rethymnon and served in her earlier days on the Japanese islands. For a paleontologist this is a remarkable coincidence since the Pleistocene of Japan has also yielded unbalanced endemic faunas with a very uniform composition of elephant and deer like the fauna of Crete.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Institute, Oude Gracht 320, Utrecht, Netherlands

    P. Y. Sondaar

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  1. P. Y. Sondaar
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  1. Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, New York, USA

    Max K. Hecht  & Bessie M. Hecht  & 

  2. Royal Veterinary College of the University of London, London, England

    Peter C. Goody

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© 1977 Plenum Press, New York

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Sondaar, P.Y. (1977). Insularity and Its Effect on Mammal Evolution. In: Hecht, M.K., Goody, P.C., Hecht, B.M. (eds) Major Patterns in Vertebrate Evolution. NATO Advanced Study Institutes Series, vol 14. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8851-7_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8851-7_23

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