New Specimens of Late Quaternary Extinct Mammals from Caves in Sanchez Ramirez Province, Dominican Republic

Authors

Donald A. McFarlane, Claremont McKenna College; Pitzer College; Scripps CollegeFollow
Abel Vale
Keith Christenson
Joyce Lundberg, Carleton UniversityFollow
Gabriel Atilles
Stein Erik Lauritzen, University of BergenFollow

Document Type

Article

Department

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

Publication Date

2000

Abstract

During the late Quaternary, the island of Hispaniola supported one of the most diverse mammalian faunas in the West Indies. Much of this diversity was lost to extinction in the past 100,000 years, but the timing of these events is poorly known. Here we report the paleontological findings of a multidisciplinary investigation of caves in the central Dominican Republic. These findings include new 'last occurrence' dates for the rodents Isolobodon portoricensis and Brotomys cf. voratus that take these genera to the dawn of the historic era; a first record of a last-interglacial sloth, and the first report of the upper dentition of the giant heptaxodontid rodent Quemisia gravis.

Comments

Previously linked to as: http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/u?/irw,489.

Publisher pdf, posted with permission.

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Recommended Citation

McFarlane, D.A., A. Vale, K. Christenson, J. Lundberg, G. Atilles, and S.E. Lauritzen. "New specimens of Late Quaternary extinct mammals from caves in Sanchez Ramirez Province, Dominican Republic." Caribbean Journal of Science 36 (2000): 163-166.