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New Quaternary mammals support regional endemism in western Hispaniola

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Abstract

Analysis of largely unstudied fossil collections recovered from caves and sinkholes from western Hispaniola has resulted in the recognition of a new capromyine rodent (Zagoutomys woodsi, gen. et sp. nov.) and a new solenodontid (Solenodon ottenwalderi sp. nov.). Fossils of Z. woodsi show that it differs from other capromyine rodents in having a mandible with a relatively thin and elongated symphysis, a relatively long diastema between the lower incisor and dp4, a more procumbent incisor, and a more anteriorly positioned masseteric crest. Results from a phylogenetic analysis suggest that Z. woodsi is closely related to the Plagiodontia clade, which includes living P. aedium and two extinct species. While fossils referred to Z. woodsi are rare (n = 18) among the thousands of rodent specimens recovered from the study sites, their geographic distribution suggests it was present across western Hispaniola. In contrast, fossils of S. ottenwalderi are relatively abundant in several localities but restricted to the western portion of the Tiburon Peninsula, like other regionally endemic extinct taxa, including the platyrrhine primate Insulacebus toussaintiana and the capromyine rodent Rhizoplagiodontia lemkei. Fossils of S. ottenwalderi show that it was notably smaller than other species of Solenodontidae, reducing the body size gap between this genus and Nesophontes. A phylogenetic analysis suggests that S. ottenwalderi is sister to the extinct species S. marcanoi and both are sister to extant S. paradoxus, forming a monophyletic clade endemic to Hispaniola. Morphological and body size differences of these two new mammals with respect to their sister taxa might suggest niche differentiation with segregation of available resources in these past island ecosystems.

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The data generated and analyzed during the current study are available in the published manuscript and the supplemental Online Resources.

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Acknowledgements

We want to thank Anna K. Behrensmeyer, Jessica K. Nakano, Kathy Hollis, Darrin P. Lunde, and Megan K. Viera from the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, and Verity L. Mathis from the Florida Museum of Natural History for facilitating to specimens housed at those institutions for LWVL and JNAM. Thanks to Maria Vallejo, Carmi Thompson, Mitchell Riegler, and Johanset Orihuela for their insight during the early stages of the manuscript. This article was enriched and improved thanks to the comments and suggestions provided by an anonymous reviewer and the editor, Hayley Lanier, for revising the article.

Funding

This work was supported by funds of the FLMNH Summer Travel Award in 2022 to LWVL and the International Student Travel Award of the FLMNH in 2022 to JNA. The work by AL was supported by the iDB-SIP project funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number DBI-1547229.

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  1. Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, 1659 Museum Road, Gainesville, FL, 32611- 7800, USA

    Lázaro W. Viñola-López, Alisa Luthra & Jonathan I. Bloch

  2. Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Lázaro W. Viñola-López

  3. Museo Nacional de Historia Natural ‘‘Prof. Eugenio de Jesús Marcano’’, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

    Juan N. Almonte-Milán

Authors
  1. Lázaro W. Viñola-López
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  2. Juan N. Almonte-Milán
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  3. Alisa Luthra
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  4. Jonathan I. Bloch
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Contributions

L.W.V.L. and J.N.A.M conceived the study and in collaboration with A.L. collected data and conducted the analysis. L.W.V.L. and J.I.B wrote the manuscript. L.W.V.L prepared the figures. All the authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lázaro W. Viñola-López.

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Viñola-López, L.W., Almonte-Milán, J.N., Luthra, A. et al. New Quaternary mammals support regional endemism in western Hispaniola. J Mammal Evol 31, 25 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-024-09722-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-024-09722-7

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