r/evolution • u/Reintroductionplans • 11d ago
question Are there any examples of animals evolving on isolation on an island and then somehow making it back to a mainland and populating the mainland?
islands are obviously isolated ecosystems that breed speciation, but are there any examples of these species repopulating the mainland afterwards?
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u/7LeagueBoots Conservation Ecologist 11d ago
Look up “back-colonization” and “mainland colonization”. This is sometimes called a ‘boomerang effect’.
Lizards. frogs, plants, birds and others have done this.
A key example of this are anoles in the Caribbean. They initially evolved on the mainland, colonized the islands, then recolonized the mainland and that event apparently triggered a rapid diversification of species.
Another key example is the North African Blue Tit which evolved from Tits in the Canary Island rather than from the European mainland, which was the original source for the Canary Islands Tits.
There are tons of examples of this.
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u/haysoos2 11d ago
Depending on your minimum size for an "island" then Virginia opossum, nine-banded armadillo, and North American porcupine might be candidates.
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u/Careful_Cranberry364 11d ago
Cats from the Isle of White called Manx cats have no tails.
I’m not sure how many of them have come back to other mainlands to become Cats with no tails, but there must be some
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u/LorMaiGay 11d ago
Isle of Man
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u/Careful_Cranberry364 11d ago
Yikes, you’re right. Sorry, Isle of Mann
My parents used to take us remember which was which ha ha
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u/Greyrock99 11d ago
There is often the misapprehension that animals on the large mainland are somehow ‘more fit’ than those on tiny islands.
It’s perfectly cromulent to have a small island species be introduced to a larger mainland and run wild - it’s just that usually mainlanders have more numbers.
It’s about who can exploit a particular niche more effectively than any other.
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u/whimsicalteapotter 11d ago
I enjoy and appreciate your use of cromulent
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u/ahazred8vt 11d ago
Words with Latin -ulent and -ilent suffixes refer to 'full of, abounding in'. opulent, pestilent
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u/onomatamono 11d ago
It's another case of "given enough time" these migrations will happen. The mainland is a rich source of species that can opportunistically populate a tiny target like a remote island. The island has few candidates to make the return "trip" (evolutionarily speaking) but the mainland represents a massive target environment. I'm guessing one is more probable than the other,
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