New explanation for elements of Hainan Island's biological assemblage may stretch things a little too far

Recent interpretations of various floral and faunal components on Hainan Island and the nearby parts of mainland east Asia invoke a mid‐Cenozoic plate‐tectonic rifting episode that displaced the landmass ca 220 km south‐eastwards from a postulated former site directly adjacent to the China– Vietnam border. However, having sifted through the relevant geological evidence I contend that this idea is weakly founded. In explaining challenging biogeographical patterns, it is suggested that all of the geo‐physical processes that could have forged the distributions need to be considered.