Marsupials are abundant in Australia and South America with marsupial fossils on Antarctica. The biogeographic pattern is best explained by
- A
Independent origin of marsupials on each continent
- B
Recent migration across modern oceans
- Ccheck_circle
Common ancestry on the supercontinent Gondwana followed by continental drift
- D
Convergent evolution with no shared ancestry
Explanation
Gondwana included South America, Antarctica, and Australia. Marsupials evolved before Gondwana fragmented; continental drift then carried lineages apart, explaining today's disjunct distribution and Antarctic fossils.