Document Type

Article

Department

Biology (CMC), WM Keck Science (CMC), Biology (Pitzer), WM Keck Science (Pitzer), Biology (Scripps), WM Keck Science (Scripps)

Publication Date

11-12-1993

Abstract

Rodent species typically evolve larger mean body sizes when isolated on islands, but the extinct caviomorph Amblyrhiza inundata, known only from Quaternary cave deposits on the islands of Anguilla and St. Martin (northern Lesser Antilles), provides an unusually dramatic example of insular gigantism. Here we report on a series of body mass estimates for Amblyrhiza using predictive equations based on anteroposterior diameters and cortical cross-sectional areas of humeral and femoral diaphyses. Analyses of 14 isolated specimens (5 femoral, 9 humeral), all representing adult or near adult animals, yield body mass estimates ranging from slightly less than 50 kg to more than 200 kg. Body size estimates derived from humeral measurements are lower than those derived from femoral measurements, but the significance of this will remain unclear until matched limb bones (i.e., specimens from the same animal) are recovered. Incisor measurements are also highly variable, but in this case the distribution is demonstrably bimodal. Presence of multiple coeval species, temporal variation, limb heterogeneity, and sexual dimorphism all qualify as possible explanations of the variation encountered in Amblyrhiza data sets, but available samples are not adequate for making a robust choice among them. Body size affects many life history variables, including demography. Population estimates derived from empirical data and predictive equations suggest that only a few thousand individuals of Amblyrhiza could have occupied the islands of the Anguilla Bank at any one time during the Late Quaternary. At certain times-for example, during the last interglacial (Sangamonian) highstand-population numbers might have sunk to only a few hundred. Absolutely small population sizes of Amblyrhiza and severe fluctuations in island area during the late Quaternary surely affected its susceptibility to extinction, whether or not humans were ultimately responsible for the event (for which there is as yet no direct evidence).

Comments

Previously linked to as: http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/u?/irw,387

Source: Publisher's pdf

This article can also be found at http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/handle/2246/4976

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