Jeroen Speybroeck wrote:The origin of the species on Sicily may relate to an ancient introduction.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... f-war.html
At first, this seemed far-fetched, but if the species is really restricted to the area where it was now
found, an introduction seems likely? Genetics will have to tell us if the Greek snake throwers collected
there snakes at home or in northern Africa .
(1) What does the term "introduced" really refer to? Brought in by humans and their activities only
(whether on purpose or unintentionally), or in any other ("more natural"?!) way as well? What if the
animals just raft on something and get there without any human influence, is that still considered
an "introduction"? Are there any agreed-upon criteria you know of? (I mean, regarding the technical
term, since the outcome itself can be pretty much the same...)
(2) If an "introduced" species (the "newcommers") happens to survive for, say, 2000 years in it's new
homeland, should one still term that population as "introduced", or just accept it as "indigenous"...
or at least as "permanently present"... or what?
(Of course, 2000 years refers just to the above particular example, it might as well be 100 years or
only 15 years, depending on the species, the circumstances, and the outcome...)