New megalonychid sloths (Phyllophaga, Xenarthra) from the Quaternary of Hispaniola. American Museum novitates ; no.3303

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dc.contributor.authorMacPhee, R. D. E.en_US
dc.contributor.authorWhite, Jennifer L. (Jennifer Lynn)en_US
dc.contributor.authorWoods, Charles A. (Charles Arthur)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2005-10-06T16:44:34Z
dc.date.available2005-10-06T16:44:34Z
dc.date.issued2000en_US
dc.description32 p. : ill., map ; 26 cm.en_US
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (p. 22-25).en_US
dc.description.abstractAs part of ongoing revisionary work on Antillean Megalonychidae, we document four new sloth species from Quaternary cave localities in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The new taxa and their tribal affiliations are as follows: Megalocnus zile (Megalocnini), Acratocnus ye (Acratocnini), and Neocnus dousman and N. toupiti (Cubanocnini). Significantly, each is closely related to species in genera long known from Cuba. This observation is of primary biogeographical importance because the most parsimonious explanation for the presence of parallel arrays of lower-level clades of sloths on opposite sides of the Windward Passage is vicariance, not a series of uncoordinated over-water dispersals. For a brief period in the late Paleogene, eastern Cuba, northern Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Aves Rise formed a large positive structure (GAARlandia) that was evidently briefly continuous with northwestern South America. We infer that the later subdivision and subsidence of major portions of GAARlandia must have finely vicariated its biota (which included sloths at least as early as the early Oligocene). On this argument, Megalocnus, Acratocnus, Neocnus, and Parocnus (= Mesocnus) must have already been in existence as independent clades at the time of origin of the Windward Passage (early Neogene), because cladistically diagnosable members of these taxa occur in Quaternary contexts in both Cuba and Hispaniola. This interpretation is consistent with several new lines of evidence concerning the paleontological and paleogeographical history of the Caribbean region.en_US
dc.format.extent1847831 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2246/2959
dc.languageengen_US
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherNew York, NY : American Museum of Natural Historyen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesAmerican Museum novitates ; no.3303en_US
dc.subject.lccQL1 .A436 no.3303 2000en_US
dc.subject.lcshMegalonychidae, Fossil -- Hispaniola.en_US
dc.subject.lcshSloths, Fossil -- Hispaniola.en_US
dc.subject.lcshMammals, Fossil -- Hispaniola.en_US
dc.subject.lcshCave animals -- Hispaniolaen_US
dc.subject.lcshPaleontology -- Quaternary -- Hispaniola.en_US
dc.subject.lcshPaleontology -- Hispaniola.en_US
dc.titleNew megalonychid sloths (Phyllophaga, Xenarthra) from the Quaternary of Hispaniola. American Museum novitates ; no.3303en_US
dc.title.alternativeNew Hispaniolan slothsen_US
dc.typetexten_US

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