How are there boas in madagascar?

ngav3 · 07-30-17, 09:12 PM

Stuff like the Dumeril's Boa, Madagascar Tree Boa, etc. Are these boas related(very distantly, of course) in any way to the south american boas?

**Tsubaki** · 07-31-17, 03:44 AM

Well the Madagascar plate was at some point part of the supercontinent Gondwana.. which contained amongst others Africa, North and South America, Australia, India and Antarctica. (Im sure I missed something, the list was longer). I think Africa and Antartica started to seperate first at like 300 million years ago, and the rest of Gondwana broke up 120 million years ago so they stayed connected even longer.. and Madagascar and India seperated even after that, Im sure wikipedia will know how long ago that was because I forgot.. a long time ago anyway. So in theory they share ancient ancestors. But they're really for similarly build animals, not really the same. To my knowledge they don't form hybrids with non madagascar species. (Also not something id advise)