Haitian Nesophontes (Nesophontes zamicrus)
The Haitian Nesophontes was described in 1929 based on subfossil remains that were recovered from cave deposits on the island of Hispaniola.
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edited: 14.05.2022
Tag Archives: Dominican Republic
Brotomys voratus Miller
Hispaniolan Edible Rat (Brotomys voratus)
The Hispaniolan Edible Rat was described in 1916 based on subfossil remains.
Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, a Spanish colonialist, historian, and writer gave some brief descriptions of several mammal species that lived on the island of Hispaniola in the early 16th century; most are second-hand accounts of animals he himself had not seen; there is also one account that can be attributed to the Edible Rat.:
“The mohuy is an animal somewhat smaller than the hutia: its color is paler and likewise gray. This was the food most valued and esteemed by the caciques and chiefs of this island; and the character of the animal was much like the hutia except that the hair was denser and coarser (and more stiff), and very pointed and standing erect or straight above. I have not seen this animal, but there are many who declared it to be as aforesaid; and in this island there are many persons who have seen it and eaten it, and who praise this meat as better than all the others we have spoken about.” [1]
The species died out shortly after the arrival of the first European settlers in the Caribbean, who brought with them mice and rats, which very likely were the main reason for the extinction of most smaller endemic mammal species.
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References:
[1] Gerrit S. Miller: Mammals eaten by Indians, Owls, and Spaniards in the coast region of the Dominican Republic. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 82(5): 1-16. 1929
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Photo from: ‘Gerrit S. Miller: Mammals eaten by Indians, Owls, and Spaniards in the coast region of the Dominican Republic. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 82(5): 1-16. 1929’
(public domain)
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edited: 06.05.2022
Hypsirhynchus melanichnus (Cope)
Hispaniola Racer (Hypsirhynchus melanichnus)
The Hispaniola Racer was described in 1862, it was endemic to the large island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles.
The species reached a length of about 65 cm, its back was plain olive-green colored, there was a white stripe spanning from the neck to the middle of the body, the belly was olive-green as well, yet somewhat lighter than the back.
The biology of the Hispaniola Racer is not well known, it was diurnal and apparently was mostly found on the ground.
The Hispaniola Racer was last found in 1910 and is now considered extinct. The reasons for the extinction of this species are the same as for its gongener from the nearby island of Jamaica, the Jamaican Racer (Hypsirhynchus ater (Gosse)), that is habitat loss and predation by the introduced and highly invasive Javan Mongoose (Herpestes javanicus (É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire)).
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(not in copyright)
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edited: 30.10.2020
Milvago alexandri Olson
Alexander’s Caracara (Milvago alexandri)
Alexander’s Caracara is known from fossil remains recovered from Late Pleistocene deposits on the island of Hispaniola.
The species may have survived into the Holocene and is thus briefly mentioned here.
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edited: 25.04.2021
Capromyidae gen. & sp. ‘Hispaniola’
Indeterminate Hutia (Capromyidae gen. & sp. ‘Hispaniola’)
The subfossil remains of this form, whose closest relative seems to be the Imposter Hutia (Hexolobodon phenax (Miller)), known only in a subfossil state as well, were found in 1989 (?) on the island of Hispaniola.
The bones have an age of about 3600 to 4700 years. [1]
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References:
[1] Samuel T. Turvey: Holocene Extinctions. Oxford University Press, USA 2009
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edited: 03.09.2020
Tyto ostologa Wetmore
Hispaniolan Giant Barn Owl (Tyto ostologa)
The Hispaniolan Giant Barn Owl was described in 1922 on the basis of subfossil remains that had been recovered from several cave site on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles. [1]
The species survived until the Holocene and most probably disappeared after the extinction of its main prey items, the large endemic mammals that mostly were extirpated by the first Amerindians that reached the islands of the Caribbean.
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References:
[1] William Suárez; Storrs L. Olson: Systematics and distribution of the giant fossil barn owls of the West Indies (Aves: Strigiformes: Tytonidae). Zootaxa 4020 (3): 533-553. 2015
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edited: 08.09.2019
Celestus anelpistus (Schwartz, Graham & Duval)
Altagracia Galliwasp (Celestus anelpistus)
This species was described in 1979; it is known only from the type series that was collected in 1977 in a small valley in the San Cristóbal Province in the southern Dominican Republic.
The sole known type locality has been converted into agricultural land and it is very likely extinct.
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edited: 01.08.2022
Nesophontes hypomicrus Miller
Atalaye Nesophontes (Nesophontes hypomicrus)
The Atalaye Nesophontes was described in 1929 on the basis of subfossil bones that were found on the island of Hispaniola and on the small offshore Île de la Gonâve.
The species disappeared at about 1175 to 1295 A.D. or probably even later, since some of its remains were found together with bones of rats (Rattus spp.) which were introduced to the Caribbean by Europeans only in the 15th century.
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References:
[1] Gary S. Morgan; Charles A. Woods: Extinction and the zoogeography of West Indian land mammals. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 28(1-2): 167-203. 1986
[2] R. D. E. MacPhee; Clare Flemming; Darrin P. Lunde: “Last occurrence” of the Antillean insectivoran Nesophontes: new radiometric dates and their interpretation. American Museum Novitates 3261: 1-20. 1999
[3] Donald A. McFarlane; Abel Vale; Keith Christenson; Joyce Lundberg; Gabriel Atilles; Stein-Erik Lauritzen: New Specimens of Late Quaternary Extinct Mammals from Caves in Sanchez Ramirez Province, Dominican Republic. Caribbean Journal of Science 36: 163-166. 2000
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edited: 13.09.2020
Isolobodon portoricensis Allen
Puerto Rican Hutia (Isolobodon portoricensis)
The Puerto Rican Hutia was described on the basis of remains found in aboriginal midden remains on the island of Puerto Rico.
The species, however, was actually native only to the island of Hispaniola, perhaps including some small offshore islands, this is known from fossil remains that were found at sites without anthropogenic relations
The Puerto Rican Hutia was imported by the natives to other islands for nutrition purposes, and indeed all bone remains of this species found outside the island of Hispaniola were found in the litter of former natives settlements.
The species disappeared at around 1280 to 1425 A.D..
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References:
[1] Storrs L. Olson: Fossil Vertebrates from the Bahamas. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 48. 1982
[2] Clare Flemming; R. D. E. MacPhee: Redetermination of holotype of Isolobodon portoricensis (Rodentia, Capromyidae), with notes on recent mammalian extinctions in Puerto Rico. American Museum Novitates 3278: 1-11. 1999
[3] Donald A. McFarlane; Abel Vale; Keith Christenson; Joyce Lundberg; Gabriel Atilles; Stein-Erik Lauritzen: New specimens of Late Quaternary extinct mammals from caves in Sanchez Ramirez Province, Dominican Republic. Caribbean Journal of Science 36: 163-166. 2000
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Photo from: ‘Gerrit S. Miller, Jr.: Bones of mammals from Indian sites in Cuba and Santo Domingo. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 66(12): 1-10. 1916’
(public domain)
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edited: 06.09.2019