Colonizing the Caribbean: New geological data and an updated land‐vertebrate colonization record challenge the GAARlandia land‐bridge hypothesis

Rodents of the Caribbean: origin and diversification of hutias unravelled by next-generation museomics

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2014.0266 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (7) ◽

pp. 20140266 ◽

Cited By ~ 57

Author(s):

Pierre-Henri Fabre ◽

Julia T. Vilstrup ◽

Maanasa Raghavan ◽

Clio Der Sarkissian ◽

Eske Willerslev ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Molecular Data ◽

Greater Antilles ◽

Source Population ◽

Next Generation ◽

Glacial Cycles ◽

Land Bridge ◽

American Source ◽

The Caribbean ◽

Morphological And Molecular Data ◽

Phylogenetic Affinities

The Capromyidae (hutias) are endemic rodents of the Caribbean and represent a model of dispersal for non-flying mammals in the Greater Antilles. This family has experienced severe extinctions during the Holocene and its phylogenetic affinities with respect to other caviomorph relatives are still debated as morphological and molecular data disagree. We used target enrichment and next-generation sequencing of mitochondrial and nuclear genes to infer the phylogenetic relationships of hutias, estimate their divergence ages, and understand their mode of dispersal in the Greater Antilles. We found that Capromyidae are nested within Echimyidae (spiny rats) and should be considered a subfamily thereof. We estimated that the split between hutias and Atlantic Forest spiny rats occurred 16.5 (14.8–18.2) million years ago (Ma), which is more recent than the GAARlandia land bridge hypothesis (34–35 Ma). This would suggest that during the Early Miocene, an echimyid-like ancestor colonized the Greater Antilles from an eastern South American source population via rafting. The basal divergence of the Hispaniolan Plagiodontia provides further support for a vicariant separation between Hispaniolan and western islands (Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica) hutias. Recent divergences among these western hutias suggest Plio-Pleistocene dispersal waves associated with glacial cycles.

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Assesssing the role of humans in Greater Antillean land vertebrate extinctions: new insights from Cuba

10.1101/2020.01.27.922237 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Johanset Orihuela ◽

Lázaro W. Viñola ◽

Osvaldo Jiménez Vázquez ◽

Alexis M. Mychajliw ◽

Odlanyer Hernández de Lara ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Potential Role ◽

Late Quaternary ◽

Ecological Factors ◽

High Rate ◽

Archaeological Record ◽

Cultural Groups ◽

Archaeological Data ◽

The Caribbean ◽

Land Vertebrate

ABSTRACTThe Caribbean archipelago is a hotspot of biodiversity characterized by a high rate of extinction. Recent studies have examined these losses, but the causes of the Antillean Late Quaternary vertebrate extinctions, and especially the role of humans, are still unclear. Current results provide support for climate-related and human-induced extinctions, but often downplaying other complex bio-ecological factors that are difficult to model or to detect from the fossil and archaeological record. Here, we discuss Caribbean vertebrate extinctions and the potential role of humans derived from new and existing fossil and archaeological data from Cuba. Our results indicate that losses of Cuba’s native fauna occurred in three waves: one during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, a second during the middle Holocene, and a third one during the last 2 ka, coinciding with the arrival of agroceramists and the early Europeans. The coexistence of now-extinct species with multiple cultural groups in Cuba for over 4 ka implies that Cuban indigenous non-ceramic cultures exerted far fewer extinction pressures to native fauna than the later agroceramists and Europeans that followed. This suggests a determinant value to increased technological sophistication and demographics as the most plausible effective extinction drivers.

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Global biogeography of Tetragnatha spiders reveals multiple colonization of the Caribbean

10.1101/452227 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Klemen Čandek ◽

Ingi Agnarsson ◽

Greta J. Binford ◽

Matjaž Kuntner

Keyword(s):

Dispersal Ability ◽

Land Bridge ◽

Biogeographic History ◽

Putative Species ◽

Dispersal Potential ◽

The Caribbean ◽

Low Levels ◽

Richness Patterns ◽

Globally Distributed ◽

High Diversity

AbstractOrganismal variation in dispersal ability can directly affect levels of gene flow amongst populations, therefore importantly shaping species distributions and species richness patterns. The intermediate dispersal model of biogeography (IDM) predicts that in island systems, species diversity of those lineages with an intermediate dispersal potential is the highest. We broadly test this prediction, focusing on ‘four-jawed spiders’ (genus Tetragnatha) of the Caribbean archipelago. First, we report on original sampling of this globally distributed genus with numerous widespread as well as endemic species. We then reconstruct multiple Tetragnatha phylogenies from roughly 300 individuals delineated into 54 putative species. Our results support the monophyly of the four-jawed spiders but reject the monophyly of those lineages that reach the Caribbean, where we find low levels of endemism yet high diversity within Tetragnatha. The chronogram detects a potential early overwater colonization of the Caribbean, and in combination with reconstructed biogeographic history, refutes the possibility of ancient vicariant origins of Caribbean Tetragnatha as well as the GAARlandia land-bridge scenario. Instead, biogeographic results hypothesize multiple colonization events to, and from the Caribbean since mid-Eocene to late-Miocene. Tetragnatha seems unique among the arachnids explored so far in comprising some species that are excellent dispersers, and others that are not, perhaps having secondarily lost this dispersal propensity. A direct test of the IDM would require consideration of three categories of dispersers. However, four-jawed spiders do not fit one of these three a priori definitions, but rather represent a more complex combination of attributes of a ‘dynamic disperser’.

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Biogeography of Long-Jawed Spiders Reveals Multiple Colonization of the Caribbean

Diversity ◽

10.3390/d13120622 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 622

Author(s):

Klemen Čandek ◽

Ingi Agnarsson ◽

Greta J. Binford ◽

Matjaž Kuntner

Keyword(s):

A Priori ◽

Dispersal Ability ◽

Land Bridge ◽

Biogeographic History ◽

Putative Species ◽

Evolutionary Changes ◽

Dispersal Potential ◽

The Caribbean ◽

Richness Patterns ◽

High Diversity

Dispersal ability can affect levels of gene flow thereby shaping species distributions and richness patterns. The intermediate dispersal model of biogeography (IDM) predicts that in island systems, species diversity of those lineages with an intermediate dispersal potential is the highest. Here, we tested this prediction on long-jawed spiders (Tetragnatha) of the Caribbean archipelago using phylogenies from a total of 318 individuals delineated into 54 putative species. Our results support a Tetragnatha monophyly (within our sampling) but reject the monophyly of the Caribbean lineages, where we found low endemism yet high diversity. The reconstructed biogeographic history detects a potential early overwater colonization of the Caribbean, refuting an ancient vicariant origin of the Caribbean Tetragnatha as well as the GAARlandia land-bridge scenario. Instead, the results imply multiple colonization events to and from the Caribbean from the mid-Eocene to late-Miocene. Among arachnids, Tetragnatha uniquely comprises both excellently and poorly dispersing species. A direct test of the IDM would require consideration of three categories of dispersers; however, long-jawed spiders do not fit one of these three a priori definitions, but rather represent a more complex combination of attributes. A taxon such as Tetragnatha, one that readily undergoes evolutionary changes in dispersal propensity, can be referred to as a ‘dynamic disperser’.

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