ABSTRACT
Alfred Russel Wallace specifically invoked geological changes to explain the similarities and differences in the floras and faunas of the Greater Sunda Islands, and thought that the peculiarities of the biota of Sulawesi were a product of past geography. For a dispersalist, biogeographic explanations involve a series of contingent events and biotas of islands are the flotsam and jetsam of history. For a biogeologist, explanations of modern distributions involve historical tectonic change to both the present-day islands and the structures of which they are part. Any small islands would have acted as refugia for terrestrial organisms during times of maximum sea level, which would then have expanded their ranges during the following marine regression that occurred at the start of the Miocene. J. Ober makes a case that Cleopatra and Mark Antony’s flight to Egypt was a deliberate act, albeit a high-stakes gamble. Unfortunately for Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian sued for peace and bought them off, thus leaving Egypt defenceless.
