By Land or Sea: How Did Mammals Get to the Caribbean Islands?

AbstractThe origins of the first peoples to colonize the Caribbean Islands have been the subject of intense debate for over 30 years. Competing hypotheses have identified five separate migrations from the mainland with a separate debate concerning the colonization of The Bahamas. Significant differences in the facial morphology of the pre-Columbian inhabitants of Hispaniola and Cuba led to the present study of Lucayan skulls from The Bahamas. The goal was to determine which group the native Lucayans more closely resembled to resolve this long-standing dispute. The results indicate that they are related to groups from Hispaniola and Jamaica and not to Cuban inhabitants. This study clarified the larger picture of Caribbean migrations and supports evidence for a Carib invasion of the Greater Antilles around AD 800.

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Archaeology of marronage in the Caribbean Antilles

Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia ◽

10.11606/issn.2448-1750.revmae.2020.164882 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-13

Author(s):

Theresa Ann Singleton

Keyword(s):

Puerto Rico ◽

Greater Antilles ◽

Small Islands ◽

Short Term ◽

Caribbean Islands ◽

The Caribbean ◽

Preliminary Research ◽

Local Term

The archaeological study of maroons in the Caribbean Antilles presents both opportunities and challenges. On small islands, runaways had few places where they could seek refuge from slavery and elude capture for long periods of time. Consequently, such sites were occupied briefly and have been difficult to locate and identify. The Greater Antilles (Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico) had both short-term refuge sites and long-term settlements comparable to quilombos. Archaeologists have been most successful in their investigations maroons in Cuba and Jamaica. In Hispaniola, where I am working at the present, only a few cave sites and one presumed maniel (the local term for a long-term maroon settlements) have been studied. In this paper, I provide an overview of the archaeological study of maroons on the Caribbean Islands and my preliminary research to locate El Maniel de Ocoa, a major settlement of slave runaways for over a hundred years during 1500s-1660s.

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Molecular phylogenetics of Caribbean Micrathena (Araneae : Araneidae) suggests multiple colonisation events and single island endemism

Invertebrate Systematics ◽

10.1071/is13051 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 28 (4) ◽

pp. 337 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Anne McHugh ◽

Carol Yablonsky ◽

Greta Binford ◽

Ingi Agnarsson

Keyword(s):

Molecular Phylogenetics ◽

New World ◽

Greater Antilles ◽

Taxon Sampling ◽

Diverse Group ◽

Genetic Lineages ◽

Caribbean Islands ◽

Island Endemics ◽

Terrestrial Biota ◽

The Caribbean

The terrestrial biota of the Caribbean islands includes many lineages, some whose presence on the islands dates back some 35–40 million years ago, when land bridges are thought to have linked islands to continents, and others that have colonised more recently via dispersal. The New World spiny orb-weavers (Micrathena Sundevall, 1833) are a diverse group of mostly Neotropical spiders. Eight species have been described on the Greater Antilles islands: three widespread and five single island endemics. Here, using three molecular markers (16S rRNA, ITS-2 and COI) we provide a preliminary phylogenetic test of the taxonomy and biogeography of Caribbean Micrathena through the first molecular phylogeny of the genus. Our analyses support monophyly of the genus, but not that of Caribbean Micrathena with at least 3–4 colonisations from South America. We sampled six of the eight nominal Caribbean species (M. banksi, M. cubana, M. similis, M. forcipata, M. horrida, M. militaris), but demark eight divergent genetic lineages that all are single island endemics, and morphologically distinct. Thus a revision of the taxonomy of Caribbean Micrathena is needed. Our results function foremost to guide more thorough taxon sampling of Micrathena that enable more rigorous assessments of its diversity and biogeography in the Caribbean.

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Labidocarpine bat-mites (Listrophoroidea: chirodiscidae) collected from the Caribbean Islands of Jamaica (Greater Antilles) and Guadeloupe (Lesser Antilles)

International Journal of Acarology ◽

10.1080/01647958208683300 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 227-229 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

B. McDaniel ◽

J.P. Webb

Keyword(s):

Lesser Antilles ◽

Greater Antilles ◽

Caribbean Islands ◽

The Caribbean

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A new species of Grotea Cresson, the first record of Labeninae (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) in the Greater Antilles

Journal of Hymenoptera Research ◽

10.3897/jhr.81.59769 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 81 ◽

pp. 1-8

Author(s):

Marissa Sandoval ◽

Bernardo F. Santos

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

First Record ◽

Greater Antilles ◽

Caribbean Islands ◽

The Caribbean ◽

A New Species

Grotea ambarosasp. nov. is described, illustrated and compared to currently described species of the genus. The new species is characterized mainly by having the mesosoma 2.9× as long as high; genal projection distinct and apically subquadrate; pleural carina distinct only anteriorly to anterior transverse carina; mesosoma almost entirely amber-orange and legs with complex dark brown and white marks. This is the first record of any labenine species for the Greater Antilles; the few distribution records elsewhere in the Caribbean Islands are reviewed and discussed in the context of the biogeography of Labeninae.

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Collagen Sequence Analysis Reveals Evolutionary History of Extinct West Indies Nesophontes (Island-Shrews)

Molecular Biology and Evolution ◽

10.1093/molbev/msaa137 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 37 (10) ◽

pp. 2931-2943 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Michael Buckley ◽

Virginia L Harvey ◽

Johanset Orihuela ◽

Alexis M Mychajliw ◽

Joseph N Keating ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Evolutionary History ◽

Greater Antilles ◽

Cayman Islands ◽

Geographical Isolation ◽

Sequence Analyses ◽

Evolutionary Patterns ◽

Caribbean Islands ◽

The Past ◽

History Of ◽

The Caribbean

Abstract Ancient biomolecule analyses are proving increasingly useful in the study of evolutionary patterns, including extinct organisms. Proteomic sequencing techniques complement genomic approaches, having the potential to examine lineages further back in time than achievable using ancient DNA, given the less stringent preservation requirements. In this study, we demonstrate the ability to use collagen sequence analyses via proteomics to assist species delimitation as a foundation for informing evolutionary patterns. We uncover biogeographic information of an enigmatic and recently extinct lineage of Nesophontes across their range on the Caribbean islands. First, evolutionary relationships reconstructed from collagen sequences reaffirm the affinity of Nesophontes and Solenodon as sister taxa within Solenodonota. This relationship helps lay the foundation for testing geographical isolation hypotheses across islands within the Greater Antilles, including movement from Cuba toward Hispaniola. Second, our results are consistent with Cuba having just two species of Nesophontes (N. micrus and N. major) that exhibit intrapopulation morphological variation. Finally, analysis of the recently described species from the Cayman Islands (N. hemicingulus) indicates that it is a closer relative to N. major rather than N. micrus as previously speculated. This proteomic sequencing improves our understanding of the origin, evolution, and distribution of this extinct mammal lineage, particularly with respect to the approximate timing of speciation. Such knowledge is vital for this biodiversity hotspot, where the magnitude of recent extinctions may obscure true estimates of species richness in the past.

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Geology and hydrogeology of the Caribbean islands aquifer system of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Professional Paper ◽

10.3133/pp1419 ◽

2002 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Robert A. Renken ◽

W. C. Ward ◽

I.P. Gill ◽

Fernando Gómez-Gómez ◽

Jesús Rodríguez-Martínez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Puerto Rico ◽

Virgin Islands ◽

Aquifer System ◽

Caribbean Islands ◽

The Caribbean ◽

The U.S

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Leishmania spp. and leishmaniasis on the Caribbean islands

Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene ◽

10.1093/trstmh/trz076 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Chaoqun Yao

Keyword(s):

Puerto Rico ◽

Dominican Republic ◽

Trinidad And Tobago ◽

Parasite Species ◽

Sand Fly ◽

Caribbean Islands ◽

Leishmania Spp ◽

The Caribbean ◽

Human Infections ◽

Sand Fly Vectors

Abstract The kinetoplastid protozoan Leishmania spp. cause leishmaniasis, which clinically exhibit mainly as a cutaneous, mucocutanous or visceral form depending upon the parasite species in humans. The disease is widespread geographically, leading to 20 000 annual deaths. Here, leishmaniases in both humans and animals, reservoirs and sand fly vectors on the Caribbean islands are reviewed. Autochthonous human infections by Leishmania spp. were found in the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe and Martinique as well as Trinidad and Tobago; canine infections were found in St. Kitts and Grenada; and equine infections were found in Puerto Rico. Imported human cases have been reported in Cuba. The parasites included Leishmania amazonensis, Le. martiniquensis and Le. waltoni. Possible sand fly vectors included Lutzomyia christophei, Lu. atroclavatus, Lu. cayennensis and Lu. flaviscutellata as well as Phlebotomus guadeloupensis. Reservoirs included rats, rice rats and mouse opossum. An updated study is warranted for the control and elimination of leishmaniasis in the region because some of the data are four decades old.

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Unraveling the Gut Microbiome of the Invasive Small Indian Mongoose (Urva auropunctata) in the Caribbean

Microorganisms ◽

10.3390/microorganisms9030465 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 465

Author(s):

Anne A. M. J. Becker ◽

KC Hill ◽

Patrick Butaye

Keyword(s):

Relative Abundance ◽

Gut Microbiome ◽

Taxonomic Diversity ◽

Caribbean Islands ◽

Microbial Profile ◽

Vegetation Zones ◽

Males And Females ◽

The Caribbean ◽

Metabolic Properties ◽

Small Indian Mongoose

Small Indian mongooses (Urva auropunctata) are among the most pervasive predators to disrupt the native ecology on Caribbean islands and are strongly entrenched in their areas of introduction. Few studies, however, have considered the microbial ecology of such biological invasions. In this study, we investigated the gut microbiota of invasive small Indian mongooses in terms of taxonomic diversity and functional potential. To this end, we collected fecal samples from 60 free-roaming mongooses trapped in different vegetation zones on the island Saint Kitts. The core gut microbiome, assessed by 16S rRNA amplicon gene sequencing on the Ion S5TM XL platform, reflects a carnivore-like signature with a dominant abundance of Firmicutes (54.96%), followed by Proteobacteria (13.98%) and Fusobacteria (12.39%), and a relatively minor contribution of Actinobacteria (10.4%) and Bacteroidetes (6.40%). Mongooses trapped at coastal sites exhibited a higher relative abundance of Fusobacterium spp. whereas those trapped in scrubland areas were enriched in Bacteroidetes, but there was no site-specific difference in predicted metabolic properties. Between males and females, beta-diversity was not significantly different and no sex-specific strategies for energy production were observed. However, the relative abundance of Gammaproteobacteria, and more specifically, Enterobacteriaceae, was significantly higher in males. This first description of the microbial profile of small Indian mongooses provides new insights into their bioecology and can serve as a springboard to further elucidating this invasive predator’s impact throughout the Caribbean.

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