New Quaternary fossils from high elevation cave deposits in Cuba
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Published
Jul 25, 2024
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Abstract
High elevation fossil deposits in Cuba have been poorly studied, and there is a limited understanding of how altitudinal changes could have affected the composition of faunal communities in the past. Here, we report fossils of 13 vertebrate species and an invertebrate from 11 late Quaternary cave deposits at elevations ranging from 532 to 1123 meters above sea level, located in the Guamuhaya Masiff in central Cuba. The composition of the vertebrate fauna assemblages recovered from these localities resembles that known from other lowland deposits and includes eight extinct, one extirpated, and four extant species. Furthermore, the specimens reported here record the highest elevation known for nine species recovered.
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extinct vertebrates, Pico San Juan, Guamuhaya Massif, mammal, Caribbean
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Arredondo Antúnez, A. (2012). Los perezosos extintos. In R. Borroto-Paez, & C.A. Mancina (Eds.), Mamíferos en Cuba (pp. 29–37). UPC Print.
Anadón-Irizarry, V., Wege, D.C., Upgren, A., Young, R., Boom, B., León, Y.M., Arias, Y., Koenig, K., Morales, A.L., Burke, W., & Pérez-Leroux, A. (2012). Sites for priority biodiversity conservation in the Caribbean Islands Biodiversity Hotspot. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 4(8), 2806–2844.
Aranda, E., López, J. G. M., Jiménez, O., Luna, C. A., & Viñola-López, L. W. (2017). Nuevos registros fósiles de vertebrados terrestres para Las Llanadas, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba. Novitates Caribaea, (11), 115–123.
Aranda, E., Viñola-López, L. W., & Álvarez-Lajonchere, L. (2020). New insights on the Quaternary fossil record of Isla de la Juventud, Cuba. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 102, 102656.
Colyn, R. B., Campbell, A., & Smit-Robinson, H. A. (2019). Camera-trapping successfully and non-invasively reveals the presence, activity and habitat choice of the Critically Endangered hite-winged Flufftail Sarothrura ayresi in a South African high-altitude wetland. Bird Conservation International, 29(3), 463–478.
Condis Fernandez, M. (2010). Inferencias paleoecológicas sobre especies de la mastofauna cuaternaria cubana, conservadas en el depósito superficial de La Caverna Geda, Pinar del Río, Cuba. [Doctoral dissertation thesis, University of Pinar del Río and University of Alicante].
Condis Fernandez, M. (2011). Los “insectivoros” extintos. In R. Borroto-Paez, & C.A. Mancina (Eds.), Mamíferos en Cuba (pp. 38–43). UPC Print
Cooke, S. B., Rosenberger, A. L., & Turvey, S. (2011). An extinct monkey from Haiti and the origins of the Greater Antillean primates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(7), 2699–2704.
Córdova Medina, A. P. (2014). La zooarqueologia en Cueva de los Chivos, sitio protoagricultor del macizo montañoso de Guamuhaya, Manicaragua, Villa Clara [Paper presentation]. XII Conferencia Internacional de Antropología, Instituto Cubano de Antropología, La Habana, Cuba.
Fischer, K. & Stephan, B. (1971). Weitere Vogelresteaus dem Pleistozän der Pio-Domingo- Höhle in Kuba. Wiss. Zeitsch. Humboldt-Univ. Berlin, Math. Nat. R., 20, 593–607.
González Alonso, H., Rodríguez Schettino, L., Rodríguez, A., Mancina, C. A., & Ramos García, I. (2012). Libro rojo de los vertebrados de Cuba. Editorial Academia.
Goodman, S. M., Raherilalao, M. J., & Block, N. L. (2011). Patterns of morphological and genetic variation in the Mentocrex kioloides complex (Aves: Gruiformes: Rallidae) from Madagascar, with the description of a new species. Zootaxa, 2776(1), 49–60.
Hedges, S. B., Cohen, W. B., Timyan, J., & Yang, Z. (2018). Haiti’s biodiversity threatened by nearly complete loss of primary forest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(46), 11850–11855.
Hernández Muñoz, A., Pérez Ibarra, A., Rodríguez Pino, O., & Rodríguez Lorenzo, A. (2015). Paleozoología de la cueva de Julio César, Pico San Juan, Macizo de Guamuhaya, Cuba [Paper presentation]. Congreso 75 Aniversario de la Sociedad Espeleológica de Cuba, Camagüey, Cuba.
Hunt, A. P., & Lucas, S. G. (2018). The record of sloth coprolites in North and South America: implications for terminal Pleistocene extinctions. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 79, 27–298.
Jiménez-Vázquez, O. (2001). Registros ornitológicos en residuarios de dieta de los aborígenes precerámicos cubanos. Journal of Caribbean Ornithology, 14(3), 120–126.
Jiménez-Vázquez, O., Condis, M. M., & García Cancio, E. (2005). Vertebrados post-glaciales en un residuario fósil de Tyto alba Scopoli (Aves: Tytonidae) en el occidente de Cuba. Revista Mexicana de Mastozoología, 9(1), 85–112.
Kennerley, R., Turvey, S. T., & Young, R. (2018). Atopogale cubana. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T20320A22327125. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T20320A22327125.en. Accessed on 11 July 2024.
MacPhee, R. D. Flemming, C., & Lunde, D. P. (1999). “Last occurrence” of the Antillean insectivore Nesophontes: New radiometric dates and their interpretation. American Museum Novitates, 3264, 1–19.
Nuñez Jimenez, A. (1998). Geología. Ediciones Mec Graphic Ltd.
Olson, S. L. (1974). A new species of Nesotrochis from Hispaniola, with notes on other fossil rails from the West Indies (Aves: Rallidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 87(38), 439–450.
Orihuela, J. (2010). Late Holocene fauna from a cave deposit in Western Cuba: post-Columbian occurrence of the vampire bat Desmodus rotundus (Phyllostomidae: Desmodontinae). Caribbean Journal of Science, 46, 297–312.
Orihuela, J., L. Pérez Orozco, J. L. Álvarez Licourt, R. A. Viera Muñoz, & C. Santana Barani. 2020a. Late Holocene land vertebrate fauna from Cueva de los Nesofontes, Western Cuba: Stratigraphy, chronology, diversity, and paleoecology. Palaeontologia Electronica, 23(3) a57. https://doi.org/10.26879/995
Orihuela, J. (2023). Revision of the extinct island-shrews Nesophontes (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Nesophontidae) from Cuba. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 130, 104544.
Orihuela, J., Viñola, L. W., Jíménez-Vázquez, O., Mychajliw, A. M., de Lara, O. H., Lorenzo, L., & Soto-Centeno, J. A. (2020b). Assessing the role of humans in Greater Antillean land vertebrate extinctions: New insights from Cuba. Quaternary Science Reviews, 249, 106597.
Oswald, J. A., Terrill, R. S., Stucky, B. J., LeFebvre, M. J., Steadman, D. W., Guralnick, R. P., & Allen, J. M. (2021). Ancient DNA from the extinct Haitian cave-rail (Nesotrochis steganinos) suggests a biogeographic connection between the Caribbean and Old World. Biology Letters, 17(3), 20200760.
Rodríguez-Cabrera, T. M. (2023). New records and geographic range extension of Epilobocera capolongoi Pretzmann, 2000 (Decapoda: Brachyura: Epiloboceridae) in Cuba, with notes on its natural history and conservation. Nauplius, 31, e2023009.
Rojas-Consuegra, R., Jiménez-Vázquez, O., Condis-Fernández, M. M., & Díaz-Franco, S. (2012). Tafonomia y paleoecologia de un yacimiento paleontológico del cuaternario en la Cueva del Indio, La Habana, Cuba. Espelunca digital, 12, 1–15.
Silva, G., Suárez Duque, W. & S. Díaz Franco. (2007). Compendio de los mamíferos terrestres autóctonos de Cuba vivientes y extinguidos. Editorial Boloña.
Suárez, W. (2022). Catalogue of Cuban fossil and subfossil birds. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club, 142(1), 10–74.
Thompson, R. S., Van Devender, T. R., Martin, P. S., Foppe, T., & Long, A. (1980). Shasta ground sloth (Nothrotheriops shastense Hoffstetter) at Shelter Cave, New Mexico: environment, diet, and extinction. Quaternary Research, 14(3), 360–376.
Viñola-López, L. W., Bloch, J. I., Almonte Milán, J. N., & LeFebvre, M. J. (2022). Endemic rodents of Hispaniola: biogeography and extinction timing during the Holocene. Quaternary Science Reviews, 297, 107828.
Viñola-López, L. W., Garrido, O. H., & Bermudez, A. (2018). Notes on Mesocapromys sanfelipensis (Rodentia: Capromyidae) from Cuba. Zootaxa, 4410(1), 164–176.
Viñola-López, L. W., Almonte Milán, J. N., Luthra, A., & Bloch, J. I. (2024). New Quaternary mammals support regional endemism in western Hispaniola. Journal of mammalian evolution, 9722, 1–27.
Woloszyn, B. W., & G. Silva. (1977). Nueva especie fósil de Artibeus (Mammalia: Chiroptera) de Cuba, y tipificación preliminar de los depósitos fosilíferos cubanos contentivos de mamíferos terrestres. Poeyana, 161, 1–17.
Woods, C. A. (1989). A new capromyid rodent from Haiti: the origin, evolution, and extinction of West Indian rodents and their bearing on the origin of New World hystricognaths. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Science Series, 33(5), 59–89.
Anadón-Irizarry, V., Wege, D.C., Upgren, A., Young, R., Boom, B., León, Y.M., Arias, Y., Koenig, K., Morales, A.L., Burke, W., & Pérez-Leroux, A. (2012). Sites for priority biodiversity conservation in the Caribbean Islands Biodiversity Hotspot. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 4(8), 2806–2844.
Aranda, E., López, J. G. M., Jiménez, O., Luna, C. A., & Viñola-López, L. W. (2017). Nuevos registros fósiles de vertebrados terrestres para Las Llanadas, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba. Novitates Caribaea, (11), 115–123.
Aranda, E., Viñola-López, L. W., & Álvarez-Lajonchere, L. (2020). New insights on the Quaternary fossil record of Isla de la Juventud, Cuba. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 102, 102656.
Colyn, R. B., Campbell, A., & Smit-Robinson, H. A. (2019). Camera-trapping successfully and non-invasively reveals the presence, activity and habitat choice of the Critically Endangered hite-winged Flufftail Sarothrura ayresi in a South African high-altitude wetland. Bird Conservation International, 29(3), 463–478.
Condis Fernandez, M. (2010). Inferencias paleoecológicas sobre especies de la mastofauna cuaternaria cubana, conservadas en el depósito superficial de La Caverna Geda, Pinar del Río, Cuba. [Doctoral dissertation thesis, University of Pinar del Río and University of Alicante].
Condis Fernandez, M. (2011). Los “insectivoros” extintos. In R. Borroto-Paez, & C.A. Mancina (Eds.), Mamíferos en Cuba (pp. 38–43). UPC Print
Cooke, S. B., Rosenberger, A. L., & Turvey, S. (2011). An extinct monkey from Haiti and the origins of the Greater Antillean primates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(7), 2699–2704.
Córdova Medina, A. P. (2014). La zooarqueologia en Cueva de los Chivos, sitio protoagricultor del macizo montañoso de Guamuhaya, Manicaragua, Villa Clara [Paper presentation]. XII Conferencia Internacional de Antropología, Instituto Cubano de Antropología, La Habana, Cuba.
Fischer, K. & Stephan, B. (1971). Weitere Vogelresteaus dem Pleistozän der Pio-Domingo- Höhle in Kuba. Wiss. Zeitsch. Humboldt-Univ. Berlin, Math. Nat. R., 20, 593–607.
González Alonso, H., Rodríguez Schettino, L., Rodríguez, A., Mancina, C. A., & Ramos García, I. (2012). Libro rojo de los vertebrados de Cuba. Editorial Academia.
Goodman, S. M., Raherilalao, M. J., & Block, N. L. (2011). Patterns of morphological and genetic variation in the Mentocrex kioloides complex (Aves: Gruiformes: Rallidae) from Madagascar, with the description of a new species. Zootaxa, 2776(1), 49–60.
Hedges, S. B., Cohen, W. B., Timyan, J., & Yang, Z. (2018). Haiti’s biodiversity threatened by nearly complete loss of primary forest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(46), 11850–11855.
Hernández Muñoz, A., Pérez Ibarra, A., Rodríguez Pino, O., & Rodríguez Lorenzo, A. (2015). Paleozoología de la cueva de Julio César, Pico San Juan, Macizo de Guamuhaya, Cuba [Paper presentation]. Congreso 75 Aniversario de la Sociedad Espeleológica de Cuba, Camagüey, Cuba.
Hunt, A. P., & Lucas, S. G. (2018). The record of sloth coprolites in North and South America: implications for terminal Pleistocene extinctions. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 79, 27–298.
Jiménez-Vázquez, O. (2001). Registros ornitológicos en residuarios de dieta de los aborígenes precerámicos cubanos. Journal of Caribbean Ornithology, 14(3), 120–126.
Jiménez-Vázquez, O., Condis, M. M., & García Cancio, E. (2005). Vertebrados post-glaciales en un residuario fósil de Tyto alba Scopoli (Aves: Tytonidae) en el occidente de Cuba. Revista Mexicana de Mastozoología, 9(1), 85–112.
Kennerley, R., Turvey, S. T., & Young, R. (2018). Atopogale cubana. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T20320A22327125. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T20320A22327125.en. Accessed on 11 July 2024.
MacPhee, R. D. Flemming, C., & Lunde, D. P. (1999). “Last occurrence” of the Antillean insectivore Nesophontes: New radiometric dates and their interpretation. American Museum Novitates, 3264, 1–19.
Nuñez Jimenez, A. (1998). Geología. Ediciones Mec Graphic Ltd.
Olson, S. L. (1974). A new species of Nesotrochis from Hispaniola, with notes on other fossil rails from the West Indies (Aves: Rallidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 87(38), 439–450.
Orihuela, J. (2010). Late Holocene fauna from a cave deposit in Western Cuba: post-Columbian occurrence of the vampire bat Desmodus rotundus (Phyllostomidae: Desmodontinae). Caribbean Journal of Science, 46, 297–312.
Orihuela, J., L. Pérez Orozco, J. L. Álvarez Licourt, R. A. Viera Muñoz, & C. Santana Barani. 2020a. Late Holocene land vertebrate fauna from Cueva de los Nesofontes, Western Cuba: Stratigraphy, chronology, diversity, and paleoecology. Palaeontologia Electronica, 23(3) a57. https://doi.org/10.26879/995
Orihuela, J. (2023). Revision of the extinct island-shrews Nesophontes (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Nesophontidae) from Cuba. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 130, 104544.
Orihuela, J., Viñola, L. W., Jíménez-Vázquez, O., Mychajliw, A. M., de Lara, O. H., Lorenzo, L., & Soto-Centeno, J. A. (2020b). Assessing the role of humans in Greater Antillean land vertebrate extinctions: New insights from Cuba. Quaternary Science Reviews, 249, 106597.
Oswald, J. A., Terrill, R. S., Stucky, B. J., LeFebvre, M. J., Steadman, D. W., Guralnick, R. P., & Allen, J. M. (2021). Ancient DNA from the extinct Haitian cave-rail (Nesotrochis steganinos) suggests a biogeographic connection between the Caribbean and Old World. Biology Letters, 17(3), 20200760.
Rodríguez-Cabrera, T. M. (2023). New records and geographic range extension of Epilobocera capolongoi Pretzmann, 2000 (Decapoda: Brachyura: Epiloboceridae) in Cuba, with notes on its natural history and conservation. Nauplius, 31, e2023009.
Rojas-Consuegra, R., Jiménez-Vázquez, O., Condis-Fernández, M. M., & Díaz-Franco, S. (2012). Tafonomia y paleoecologia de un yacimiento paleontológico del cuaternario en la Cueva del Indio, La Habana, Cuba. Espelunca digital, 12, 1–15.
Silva, G., Suárez Duque, W. & S. Díaz Franco. (2007). Compendio de los mamíferos terrestres autóctonos de Cuba vivientes y extinguidos. Editorial Boloña.
Suárez, W. (2022). Catalogue of Cuban fossil and subfossil birds. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club, 142(1), 10–74.
Thompson, R. S., Van Devender, T. R., Martin, P. S., Foppe, T., & Long, A. (1980). Shasta ground sloth (Nothrotheriops shastense Hoffstetter) at Shelter Cave, New Mexico: environment, diet, and extinction. Quaternary Research, 14(3), 360–376.
Viñola-López, L. W., Bloch, J. I., Almonte Milán, J. N., & LeFebvre, M. J. (2022). Endemic rodents of Hispaniola: biogeography and extinction timing during the Holocene. Quaternary Science Reviews, 297, 107828.
Viñola-López, L. W., Garrido, O. H., & Bermudez, A. (2018). Notes on Mesocapromys sanfelipensis (Rodentia: Capromyidae) from Cuba. Zootaxa, 4410(1), 164–176.
Viñola-López, L. W., Almonte Milán, J. N., Luthra, A., & Bloch, J. I. (2024). New Quaternary mammals support regional endemism in western Hispaniola. Journal of mammalian evolution, 9722, 1–27.
Woloszyn, B. W., & G. Silva. (1977). Nueva especie fósil de Artibeus (Mammalia: Chiroptera) de Cuba, y tipificación preliminar de los depósitos fosilíferos cubanos contentivos de mamíferos terrestres. Poeyana, 161, 1–17.
Woods, C. A. (1989). A new capromyid rodent from Haiti: the origin, evolution, and extinction of West Indian rodents and their bearing on the origin of New World hystricognaths. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Science Series, 33(5), 59–89.
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How to Cite
Viñola-López, L. W., Jiménez-Vázquez, O., Hernández Muñoz, A., Borges-Sellén, C. R., Arano-Ruiz, A., & Paz Castro, J. (2024). New Quaternary fossils from high elevation cave deposits in Cuba. Novitates Caribaea, (24), 69–78. https://doi.org/10.33800/nc.vi24.359
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