Living and late Holocene fossil vertebrates, and the vegetation of the cockpit country, Jamaica

Pregill, Gregory K.; Crombie, Ronald I.; Steadman, David W.; Gordon, Linda K.; Davis, Frank W.; Hilgartner, William B.

doi:10.5479/si.00775630.353.1

Cited by 21 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 2 publications

(3 reference statements)

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“…These changes and pressures brought on widespread extinction of many of the larger animals of the West Indian fauna, including all the endemic sloths, most of the endemic rodents, and many parrots and bats (e.g. Olson 1982;Olson & Pregill 1982;Pregill et al 1988Pregill et al , 1991Pregill et al , 1994Steadman et al 1997;Pregill & Crother 1999;Morgan 2001). The biogeography of the living fauna and flora of the region must therefore be interpreted with caution.…”

Section: Geography Climate and Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

The West Indies as a laboratory of biogeography and evolution

Ricklefs

Bermingham

2007

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

211

267

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Islands have long provided material and inspiration for the study of evolution and ecology. The West Indies are complex historically and geographically, providing a rich backdrop for the analysis of colonization, diversification and extinction of species. They are sufficiently isolated to sustain endemic forms and close enough to sources of colonists to develop a dynamic interaction with surrounding continental regions. The Greater Antilles comprise old fragments of continental crust, some very large; the Lesser Antilles are a more recent volcanic island arc, and the low-lying Bahama Islands are scattered on a shallow oceanic platform. Dating of island lineages using molecular methods indicates over-water dispersal of most inhabitants of the West Indies, although direct connections with what is now southern Mexico in the Early Tertiary, and subsequent land bridges or stepping stone islands linking to Central and South America might also have facilitated colonization. Species-area relationships within the West Indies suggest a strong role for endemic radiations and extinction in shaping patterns of diversity. Diversification is promoted by opportunities for allopatric divergence between islands, or within the large islands of the Greater Antilles, with a classic example provided by the Anolis lizards. The timing of colonization events using molecular clocks permits analysis of colonization-extinction dynamics by means of species accumulation curves. These indicate low rates of colonization and extinction for reptiles and amphibians in the Greater Antilles, with estimated average persistence times of lineages in the West Indies exceeding 30 Myr. Even though individual island populations of birds might persist an average of 2 Myr on larger islands in the Lesser Antilles, recolonization from within the archipelago appears to maintain avian lineages within the island chain indefinitely. Birds of the Lesser Antilles also provide evidence of a mass extinction event within the past million years, emphasizing the time-heterogeneity of historical processes. Geographical dynamics are matched by ecological changes in the distribution of species within islands over time resulting from adaptive radiation and shifts in habitat, often following repeatable patterns. Although extinction is relatively infrequent under natural conditions, changes in island environments as a result of human activities have exterminated many populations and othersespecially old, endemic species-remain vulnerable. Conservation efforts are strengthened by recognition of aesthetic, cultural and scientific values of the unique flora and fauna of the West Indies.

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Section: Geography Climate and Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

The West Indies as a laboratory of biogeography and evolution

Ricklefs

Bermingham

2007

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

211

267

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“…Two endemic land mammals are known historically from Jamaica (Pregill et al 1988;Woods 1989); the hutia Geocapromys brownii (Fischer), which, with a weight of 1000 to 2000 g (Anderson et al 1983), adults of which would have been much too large for T. noeli to take, and the now extinct rice rat Oryzomys antillarum Thomas which was very similar in size and morphology to mainland rice rats such as O. palustris (Harlan), which weighs from 45 to 80 g (Wolfe 1982). The fossil record in Jamaica indicates that Oryzomys Baird did not colonize Jamaica until the end of the Pleistocene, about 11,000 years ago (see McFarlane et al 2002;Silva Taboada et al 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematics and distribution of the giant fossil barn owls of the West Indies (Aves: Strigiformes: Tytonidae)

Suárez¹,

Olson²

2015

Zootaxa

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After reviewing the systematics and distribution of the extinct West Indian taxa of Tytonidae (Tyto) larger than the living barn owl Tyto alba (Scopoli), we reached the following conclusions: (1) the species T. ostologa Wetmore (1922) is the only giant barn owl known so far from Hispaniola; (2) T. pollens Wetmore (1937) was a somewhat larger and even more robust representative of T. ostologa known from the Great Bahama Bank and Cuba; (3) the very rare species T. riveroi Arredondo (1972b) is here synonymized with T. pollens; (4) the smallest taxon of these giant barn owls is T. noeli Arredondo (1972a), which is widespread and abundant in Quaternary deposits of Cuba and is here reported for the first time from two cave deposits in Jamaica; (5) the only large barn owl named so far from the Lesser Antilles is T. neddi Steadman & Hilgartner (1999), which is here synonymized with T. noeli; (6) a new taxon from Cuba, T. cravesae new species, which in size approached the linear dimensions of T. ostologa, is named and described herein.

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“…MacPhee revisited and made additional excavations in three of Anthony's most important localities: Long Mile Cave, Sheep Pen Cave, and Wallingford Roadside Cave (MacPhee, 1984). G. K. Pregill, D. W. Steadman, and a field crew from the Smithsonian Institution carried out excavations in Marta Tick Cave in the Cockpit Country in Trelawny Parish in 1983 (Pregill et al, 1991). F. V. Grady excavated Bonafide Cave in the Cockpit Country in Trelawny Parish in .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Amphibians are represented by fossils of three species of frogs (Pregill et al, 1991): Eleutherodactylus sp., Hyla sp., and Osteopilus brunneus. Two extinct lizards have been described from fossil deposits on the island: the large gecko Aristelliger titan (Hecht, 1951), and the curly-tailed lizard Leiocephalus jamaicensis (Etheridge, 1966).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quaternary land vertebrates of Jamaica

Morgan

1993

Biostratigraphy of Jamaica

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Quaternary land vertebrates have been reported from 21 sites in Jamaica, almost all of which are located in caves. These cave fossil deposits are widely distributed throughout the island in regions of limestone karst. Each cave deposit consists of autochthonous sediments that cannot be biostratigraphically correlated with other sites containing sediments of similar origin. The age of these deposits has been determined primarily through absolute dating and faunal comparisons. An informal temporal sequence previously proposed for Jamaican vertebrate-bearing strata was based on relative stratigraphic position and faunal content and included four layers (from youngest to oldest):(1) Rattus layer, (2) Oryzomys layer, (3) lizard/bat layers, (4) hard breccias. These strata range in age from post-Columbian (<500 yr B.P.) for the Rattus layer to middle Pleistocene for the hard breccias. Absolute ages have been obtained for six Jamaican cave deposits. The oldest dated Quaternary terrestrial vertebrate faunas are preserved in indurated bone breccias and conglomerates from Wallingford Roadside Cave in St. Elizabeth Parish that range in age from 100 to 250 ka. Undated breccias from Sheep Pen Cave in Trelawny Parish, Molton Fissure in Manchester Parish, and Lluidas Vale Cave in St. Catherine Parish, are probably similar in age. Most of the remaining Jamaican cave faunas are derived from unconsolidated sediments of late Pleistocene and Holocene age. The published Quaternary vertebrate fauna of Jamaica consists of 49 species, including 3 amphibians, 18 reptiles, 9 birds, and 19 mammals. The amphibians include three extant frogs, while the reptile fauna is composed of a turtle, a crocodile, 12 species of lizards, and 4 snakes. Three of the lizards, the large gecko Aristelliger titan, the giant anguid Celestus cf. C. occiduus, and the iguanid Leiocephalus jamaicensis, are extinct. Lizard bones are so abundant in Dairy Cave in St. Ann Parish and several other Jamaican caves that the strata from which they were derived have been called the "lizard layers." Three species of birds from Quaternary sites are now extinct in Jamaica, although the burrowing owl Athene cunicularia still survives elsewhere in the West Indies and the endemic nightjar Siphonorhis americana disappeared very recently. The extinct flightless ibis Xenicibis xympithecus is an endemic genus and species known only from Jamaica. The Quaternary mammalian fauna of Jamaica includes 12 species of bats, 3 primates, and 4 rodents. None of the bats are extinct, but three of the species have disappeared from Jamaica. Brachyphylla nana still survives on Cuba and Hispaniola, whereas Tonatia bidens and Mormoops megalophylla are now restricted to the continental Neotropics. Jamaica has three extinct species of monkeys, which constitutes the largest primate fauna of any Antillean island. Xenothrix mcgregori, an endemic Jamaican genus and species, is so unlike other genera of Neotropical ceboid monkeys that it has been placed in a separate family, the Xenotrichidae. The two other t...

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Living and late Holocene fossil vertebrates, and the vegetation of the cockpit country, Jamaica

Cited by 21 publications

References 2 publications

The West Indies as a laboratory of biogeography and evolution

The West Indies as a laboratory of biogeography and evolution

Systematics and distribution of the giant fossil barn owls of the West Indies (Aves: Strigiformes: Tytonidae)

Quaternary land vertebrates of Jamaica

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