科学家称，圣诞岛的发现重新绘制了生命地图

科学家称，圣诞岛的发现重新绘制了生命地图

The world’s animal distribution map needs to be redrawn after researchers recently discovered the existence of “Australian” species on Christmas Island.

研究人员最近发现圣诞岛上存在“澳大利亚”物种后，称世界动物分布图需要重新绘制。

According to the University of Queensland’s Jonathan Aitchison, the finding revises the long-held understanding of the location of one of biology and geography’s most significant barriers — known as the Wallace line.

据昆士兰大学的乔纳森·艾奇逊说，这一发现修正了人们长期以来对生物学和地理学上最重要的障碍之一——华莱士线——位置的认识。

“The Wallace line — named after its discoverer Alfred Russel Wallace — delineates major biological division separating the species with Asian origins from those with Australasian ones,” Aitchison said in a statement.

艾奇逊在一份声明中说:“华莱士线——以其发现者艾尔弗雷德·拉塞尔·华莱士的名字命名——划定了主要的生物分界线，把亚洲血统的物种与澳大利亚血统的物种分开。”

The research was published earlier this year in the journal Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology.

这项研究发表在今年早些时候的《古地理、古气候学、古生态学》杂志上。

“[The Wallace line] runs along the narrow seaways separating Bali from Lombok, and Borneo from Sulawesi,” he explained. “To the west are the tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses and orangutans of Eurasia and to the east, the marsupials and monotremes that are synonymous with Australia.”

他解释说：“(华莱士线)沿着巴厘岛与龙目岛、婆罗洲与苏拉威西岛之间的狭窄海道延伸。西边是欧亚大陆的老虎、大象、犀牛和猩猩，东边是与澳大利亚同义的有袋动物和单孔目动物。”

Aitchison and his colleagues noted species with Australasian origins while they worked about 1,000 kilometers west of the conventional trace of the Wallace line on Christmas Island.

艾奇逊和他的同事们在圣诞岛传统的华莱士线以西约1000公里处工作时，注意到了一些起源于澳大利亚的物种。

The species’ journey most likely occurred within the last 5 million years, as this is when Christmas Island emerged to form a new landmass, according to researchers.

研究人员称，这一物种的迁徙极有可能发生在过去的500万年里，因为这是圣诞岛形成新陆地的时间。

“Christmas Island is a strange and unique place, not just because of its geological history, but also its biological history,” Aitchison said. “We’re excited to see what other weird and wonderful discoveries are ahead.”

“圣诞岛是一个奇怪而独特的地方，不仅因为它的地质历史，也因为它的生物历史，”艾奇逊说。“我们很高兴看到未来还会有其他奇怪而奇妙的发现。”