The submarine volcanic succession of the basal complex of Fuerteventura, Canary Islands: A model of submarine growth and emergence of tectonic volcanic islands

The faunas of volcanic islands must necessarily be introduced, and more recent introductions can be recognized by the patterns of their distributions. This is obvious in the Canary Islands, where we have spent 30 days studying distributions of Spirorbidae. We now regard these as a distinct family following Pillai (1970). We sampled all the major islands, by shore collecting and diving to about 10 m, and on almost all we found nine Mediterranean species, namely Protolaeospira striata (Quiévreux, 1963) and the eight opercular incubators (species of Pileolaria and Janua) that have been recorded from both Marseilles (Zibrowius, 1968) and Chios (Bailey, 1969).

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First study of the bat fossil record of the mid-Atlantic volcanic islands

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh ◽

10.1017/s1755691021000384 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-15

Author(s):

Javier GONZÁLEZ-DIONIS ◽

Carolina CASTILLO RUIZ ◽

Penélope CRUZADO-CABALLERO ◽

Elena CADAVID-MELERO ◽

Vicente D. CRESPO

Keyword(s):

Atlantic Ocean ◽

Iberian Peninsula ◽

Central Europe ◽

Canary Islands ◽

Fossil Record ◽

Dental Morphology ◽

Lava Tubes ◽

El Hierro ◽

Volcanic Islands ◽

Fossil Data

ABSTRACT Bats are one of the most abundant and important mammals in ecosystems. However, their fossil record is scarce and fragile, making them difficult to find. Accordingly, there is no record of this group in the volcanic islands of the mid-Atlantic Ocean apart from the Canary Islands. This paper studies the first bat fossil record of the Canary Islands (Spain). The material studied is found within two Quaternary lava tubes, Cueva de los Verdes on Lanzarote and Cueva Roja on the island of El Hierro. The dental and humeral morphology and biometry are analysed and compared with current specimens. Among our results we highlight the first fossil data of two species endemic to the islands of the mid-Atlantic Ocean, Plecotus teneriffae and Pipistrellus maderensis, the former from the Canary Islands and the latter from the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands. We also confirm the presence of Pipistrellus kuhlii in the fossil record of the island of Lanzarote. No differences are observed between the dental morphology of the current and the fossil populations of P. maderensis and Pl. teneriffae. In the case of P. kuhlii, the populations of the Canary Islands and the Iberian Peninsula show differences in the paraconule with respect to the populations from central Europe. Palaeoecological studies of these taxa suggest that these islands presented a similar habitat when the sites were formed to the present-day habitat.

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Cretaceous ammonites from Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s0016756800008487 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 129 (6) ◽

pp. 763-769 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Otto Renz ◽

Daniel Bernoulli ◽

Lukas Hottinger

Keyword(s):

Canary Islands ◽

Deep Water ◽

Lower Cretaceous ◽

Upper Cretaceous ◽

Basal Complex ◽

Paper Document ◽

Ocean Boundary

AbstractMesozoic deep-water sediments occurring on the island of Fuerteventura were deposited near the continent–ocean boundary adjacent to the African margin. During Tertiary times, they were uplifted and intruded by ultramafic, mafic and alkaline plutons and dykes and are now exposed as part of the ‘Basal Complex’ of the island. These sediments reflect more or less continuous hemipelagic and turbiditic deposition during most of Jurassic and Cretaceous times. Two ammonites, described in this paper, document a Valanginian to Hauterivian age for part of the Lower Cretaceous siliciclastic turbidites, and a latest Albian to early Cenomanian age for part of the Upper Cretaceous hemipelagic limestones.

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