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A bone bed in the Eocene of Jamaica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Stephen K. Donovan ,
Daryl P. Domning ,
Frank A. Garcia  and
Harold L. Dixon
Stephen K. Donovan
Affiliation:
1Department of Geology, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica
Daryl P. Domning
Affiliation:
2Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, D.C. 20059
Frank A. Garcia
Affiliation:
3P.O. Box 3121, Apollo Beach, Florida 33570
Harold L. Dixon
Affiliation:
1Department of Geology, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica
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Extract

Pre-pleistocene fossil vertebrates are rare fossils in the Antillean region. The majority of vertebrate deposits found in the West Indies are of Late Pleistocene age, usually, but not always (MacPhee et al., 1989), dating from after the last interglacial. These faunas are cave and fissure accumulations of disarticulated bones of small terrestrial vertebrates, particularly rodents, birds, and lizards. In contrast, pre-Quaternary vertebrates of the Caribbean islands are particularly poorly known. For example, Jamaica, which has one of the most extensively studied fossil records in the region, has hitherto produced only three Tertiary vertebrates, all aquatic and hitherto known only from unique specimens. These include: the late Early Eocene sirenian Prorastomus sirenoides Owen, 1855, originally described on the basis of the skull, mandible, and atlas vertebra (for a recent discussion of this species, see Savage, 1977); the lower jaw of the early Middle Eocene crocodilian Charactosuchus kugleri Berg, 1969; and a fragment of needlefish jaw from the Pliocene (Caldwell, 1966). It is therefore significant to report the discovery of an early Middle Eocene sequence in which bones are not uncommon, including a bone bed that has produced a moderate diversity of aquatic (marine?) taxa.

Type
Paleontological Notes
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 64 , Issue 4 , July 1990 , pp. 660 - 662
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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References

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