scholarly journals Late Holocene land vertebrate fauna from Cueva de los Nesofontes, Western Cuba: Stratigraphy, chronology, diversity, and paleoecology

10.26879/995 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanset Orihuela ◽  
Leonel Pérez Orozco ◽  
Jorge L. Álvarez Licourt ◽  
Ricardo A. Viera Muñoz ◽  
Candido Santana Barani
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Vertebrate Fauna ◽  
Land Vertebrate

scholarly journals Late Holocene land vertebrate fauna from Cueva de los Nesofontes, Western Cuba: stratigraphy, last appearance dates, diversity and paleoecology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanset Orihuela ◽  
Leonel Pérez Orozco ◽  
Jorge L. Álvarez Licourt ◽  
Ricardo A. Viera Muñoz ◽  
Candido Santana Barani
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Wide Distribution ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Extinct Species ◽  
Vertebrate Fauna ◽  
Distribution Ranges ◽  
Radiocarbon Chronology ◽  
Land Vertebrate ◽  
Isotope Analyses ◽  
Age Estimates

ABSTRACTHere we report a Late Holocene fossil-rich cave deposit from Cueva de los Nesofontes, Mayabeque Province, Cuba. The deposit’s formation and its fauna were studied through a multidisciplinary approach that included stable isotope analyses, radiocarbon chronology, stratigraphy, sedimentology, and taphonomy. Thousands of microvertebrate skeletal remains were recovered, representing a diverse land vertebrate fauna that included threatened and extinct species. The deposit is characterized by profuse Nesophontes remains due to raptor predation. Previously unreported last appearance dates are provided for the extinct island-shrew Nesophontes major, the bats Artibeus anthonyi and Phyllops vetus. Radiocarbon (14C AMS) age estimates between ∼1960 rcyr BP and the present were recovered. The presence of locally extinct species, including the endemic parakeet Psittacara eups, the flicker Colaptes cf. auratus/fernandinae, and the lipotyphlan Solenodon cubanus suggests that these species had broader distributions in the near past. Isotope analyses and faunal composition indicate the previous presence of diverse habitats, including palm grove savannas and mixed woodlands. Isotopes also provide insight into the habitat and coexistence of the extinct bat Artibeus anthonyi and extant A. jamaicensis, the diet of Nesophontes major, and local paleoenvironmental conditions. Oxygen isotopes reveal an excursion suggestive of drier/colder local conditions between 660 and 770 AD. Our research further expands the understanding of Cuban Quaternary extinction episodes and provides data on the distribution and paleoecology of extinct taxa. It supports the conclusion that many Cuban extinct species survived well into the pre-Columbian late Holocene and retained wide distribution ranges until human colonization.

A checklist of Israeli land vertebrates

2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 43-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shai Meiri ◽  
Amos Belmaker ◽  
Daniel Berkowic ◽  
Kesem Kazes ◽  
Erez Maza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Planning ◽  
Vertebrate Fauna ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Land Vertebrate ◽  
Land Vertebrates

Faunal lists are important tools in ecology, biogeography, and conservation planning. Such lists can identify gaps in our knowledge of the distribution and taxonomy of regional faunas, and highlight issues needing further study. We present an up to date list of all land vertebrates occurring in Israel. We identify 786 species, of which 551 are birds, 130 are mammals, 97 are reptiles and eight are amphibians. Of these 369 species breed in Israel (including reintroductions), 199 (mostly birds) are regular visitors and 182 are accidental. Fourteen other species are invasive, and 22 species are extinct. We identify issues with the taxonomy and status of several species, and note recent developments in our understanding the Israeli land vertebrate fauna.

scholarly journals The origin of mammals: chronology and paleobiogeography

1992 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 189-189
Author(s):  
Spencer G. Lucas ◽  
Adrian P. Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Distribution ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
New World ◽  
Early Jurassic ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Comprehensive Review ◽  
Vertebrate Fauna ◽  
West Texas ◽  
Land Vertebrate

A comprehensive review of the stratigraphic and geographic distribution of the advanced, non-mammalian cynodonts (traversodontids, tritylodontids and tritheledontids) and the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic mammals indicates that: (1) traversodontids were a wholly Triassic group that disappeared during the Rhaetian; during the late Carnian-early Norian they were rare but widespread components of Pangaean land-vertebrate faunas; (2) tritylodontids first appeared in Europe during the Rhaetian, were a cosmopolitan group by the Sinemurian/Pliensbachian and disappeared during the Bathonian; (3) tritheledontids ranged in age from late Carnian to Sinemurian/Pliensbachian and were mostly a New World group; and (4) the oldest mammal is of late Carnian age from West Texas, but there is at least a 10-million-year gap between it and the next oldest mammals from the late Norian of Europe.Advanced cynodont and mammalian distributions of the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic do not suggest Late Triassic paleoprovinciality, but they do support the notion of a cosmopolitan vertebrate fauna during the Sinemurian/Pliensbachian. Proponents of a tritylodontid ancestry of mammals must explain away a 15-million-year-long absence of tritylodontids from the Late Triassic fossil record. In contrast, proponents of a tritheledontid ancestry of mammals need offer no such explanation since tritheledontids and mammals appeared simultaneously during the late Carnian.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE BLACK SEA’S COASTAL ZONE OF TAMAN’ PENINSULAR IN THE LATE HOLOCENE

2015 ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
A. V. Porotov ◽  
Yu. V. Gorlov ◽  
T. A. Yanina ◽  
E. Fouache
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Zone ◽  
Late Holocene
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