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Snails Hitched Ride on Birds to Cross Atlantic
Ant writes "This MSNBC story reports that snails hitched ride on birds to cross ocean separated by 5,500 miles of water (Europe to an island in the South Atlantic) are same genus. This was according to a new research.
Snails of the genus Balea are found throughout Europe and the Azores, the group of islands in the middle of the North Atlantic, and similar snails can be found on a tiny island chain in the South Atlantic. Because of the enormous distance between these two groups, scientists have long believed they belonged to a different genus, Tristania.
Now, genetic and anatomical analyses show that the Tristania snails are actually members of the Balea genus. The study, published in the journal Nature, indicates that Balea snails somehow traveled from Europe to the Azores and evolved into two different species. Then, some packed up and headed 5,500 miles south to Tristan da Cunha, where they further differentiated into eight more species...
Seen on Shacknews."
I seem to recall a similar story about a turtle and some birds from Aesop's Fables. Life imitating art?
...sometimes, in order to hurt someone very badly, you have to tell that person terrible lies. - PA
This reminds me of a similar fact I heard that ants have been found on every island of the world, with no obvious explanation as to how they got there.
Ironically enough, the Captcha image below is for the word "anteater."