Systematics and distribution of the living and fossil small barn owls of the West Indies (Aves: Strigiformes: Tytonidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4830 (3) ◽  
pp. 544-564
Author(s):  
WILLIAM SUÁREZ ◽  
STORRS L. OLSON
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
West Indies ◽  
Distinct Species ◽  
New Combination ◽  
The West ◽  
The Bahamas ◽  
Separate Species ◽  
Fossil Species ◽  
The North ◽  
Barn Owls

After reviewing the systematics and distribution of the living and fossil small West Indian taxa of Tytonidae (Tyto), we reached the following conclusions: (1) Strix tuidara J. E. Gray, 1827, type locality of Brazil, is the earliest available and correct name to be used in a binomen for New World mainland barn owls; (2) the North American mainland subspecies Tyto tuidara pratincola (Bonaparte, 1838), new combination, is resident in the Bahamas (“Tyto perlatus lucayanus” Riley, 1913, is a synonym), where it probably did not colonize until after the European introduction of Rattus Fischer, in Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti) where it became established in the 20th century, and subsequently in Puerto Rico; (3) Tyto furcata (Temminck, 1827) of Cuba, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands is a different species restricted to its insular distribution, with “T. alba niveicauda” Parkes & Phillips, 1978, of the Isle of Pines (now Isla de la Juventud) as a synonym; (4) the distinct species Tyto glaucops (Kaup, 1852), now endemic to Hispaniola, once occurred in Puerto Rico, as the fossil species “T. cavatica” Wetmore, 1920, is here shown to be a synonym; (5) the smallest taxon Tyto insularis (Pelzeln, 1872) of the southern Lesser Antilles is treated as a separate species, in which the nominate subspecies T. i. insularis (St. Vincent, Grenada, and the Grenadines) differs slightly but consistently in coloration from T. i. nigrescens (Lawrence, 1878) of Dominica; (6) another barn owl, Tyto maniola, new species, of this group of small tytonids from the West Indies inhabited Cuba during part of the Quaternary, and is here named and described. 

scholarly journals Early Oligocene chinchilloid caviomorphs from Puerto Rico and the initial rodent colonization of the West Indies

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1920) ◽  
pp. 20192806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Marivaux ◽  
Jorge Vélez-Juarbe ◽  
Gilles Merzeraud ◽  
François Pujos ◽  
Lázaro W. Viñola López ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
West Indies ◽  
Distinct Species ◽  
South American ◽  
The West ◽  
Early Oligocene ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
Phylogenetic Affinities ◽  
Dispersal Events ◽  
South American Origin

By their past and present diversity, rodents are among the richest components of Caribbean land mammals. Many of these became extinct recently. Causes of their extirpation, their phylogenetic affinities, the timing of their arrival in the West Indies and their biogeographic history are all ongoing debated issues. Here, we report the discovery of dental remains from Lower Oligocene deposits ( ca 29.5 Ma) of Puerto Rico. Their morphology attests to the presence of two distinct species of chinchilloid caviomorphs, closely related to dinomyids in a phylogenetic analysis, and thus of undisputable South American origin. These fossils represent the earliest Caribbean rodents known thus far. They could extend back to 30 Ma the lineages of some recently extinct Caribbean giant rodents ( Elasmodontomys and Amblyrhiza ), which are also retrieved here as chinchilloids. This new find has substantial biogeographic implications because it demonstrates an early dispersal of land mammals from South America to the West Indies, perhaps via the emergence of the Aves Ridge that occurred ca 35–33 Ma (GAARlandia hypothesis). Considering both this new palaeontological evidence and recent molecular divergence estimates, the natural colonization of the West Indies by rodents probably occurred through multiple and time-staggered dispersal events (chinchilloids, then echimyid octodontoids (spiny rats/hutias), caviids and lastly oryzomyin muroids (rice rats)).

scholarly journals Explosive range expansion of Eulophia graminea (Orchidaceae) in Puerto Ricio and the West Indies

Lankesteriana ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Ackerman ◽  
Normandie González-Orellana
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Range Expansion ◽  
West Indies ◽  
First Record ◽  
The State ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
The West ◽  
The Bahamas ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
Southern Florida

Eulophia graminea Lindley (Orchidaceae), a native orchid of tropical and subtropical Asia, was first reported in the Western Hemisphere from populations in Miami, Florida, U.S.A. where it spread rapidly through the southern part of the state. Here we report the first record of this species for Puerto Rico and sightings in the Bahamas and Cuba, reflecting the rapid spread seen in southern Florida (U.S.A).

A Revision of Siphoneugena Berg

1990 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Proença
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
New Taxa ◽  
West Indies ◽  
New Combination ◽  
Southeastern Brazil ◽  
Mountain Range ◽  
The West ◽  
Serra Do Cipó ◽  
Centre Of Diversity ◽  
Open Versus

Siphoneugena Berg (Myrtaceae, Myrteae) is a small eugenioid genus with eight species ranging from Puerto Rico to Northern Argentina with the centre of diversity in Southeastern Brazil. Keys to the species and varieties are provided, as well as synonyms, descriptions, illustrations and a map of geographical occurrence. Two new taxa are described from Brazil: Siphoneugena guilfoyleiana C. Proença, the only species to occur in sandy maritime vegetation on the Ilha do Cardoso, state of São Paulo and S. densiflora Berg var. cipoensis C. Proença, an endemic of the Serra do Cipó mountain range in the state of Minas Gerais. A new combination S. dussii (Krug & Urban) C. Proença based on Marlierea dussii, is made for a species that grows in Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam and the West Indies. This study confirms current opinions as to the low taxonomic value of open versus closed calyces in establishing natural genera within the Myrtaceae.

scholarly journals Termites of the West Indies: The Bahamas, and Bermuda

1969 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Snyder
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
West Indies ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Small Island ◽  
North Coast ◽  
The West ◽  
The Bahamas ◽  
The North ◽  
Large Island

Many of the termites of the West Indies are endemic, and so far as known, have a very limited distribution, often recorded from only a few islands. Kalotermes mona Banks is endemic to Mona Island and is found nowhere else. By contrast, many of the termites occuring in Cuba are also found in the United States, those of Jamaica in Panamá and Central America, and those of Trinidad in South America. The truly tropicosmopolitan Cryptotermes brevis (Walker) and Nasutitermes costalis (Holmgren) readily become established in new localities, islands or countries in which the environmental conditions are at all suitable. The comparatively large island of Trinidad, close to the mainland of South America and mostly with a continental fauna, has the largest number of species of termites of any of the West Indies: 31. The island of Curacao, also near the coast of South America, but small and arid has but 2, and none is recorded from Aruba, Margarita or the other smaller islands off the north coast of Venezuela. The comparatively small island of Tobago, northeast from Trinidad, has 8 species of termites recorded, and Barbados 7, but none is listed from St. Vincent, and most of the other Lesser Antilles have at most but 3 or 4. None is reported from Nevis, Saba, or St. John, but St. Croix of the U. S. Virgin Islands has 10, St. Thomas 5, and Culebra and Vieques 1 each. Fifteen species of termites are recorded from Puerto Rico, and 4 from Mona. In the large island of Hispaniola, only 8 species of termites are recorded from the eastern portion: the Dominican Republic, while 18 are known from Haiti. Sixteen species of termites are known in Jamaica, and 9 from the widely dispersed islands of the Bahamas. The large island of Cuba, closest of any to continental North America, has 22; the comparatively minute, and most distant Bermuda has 4. All recorded species may be identified by means of keys based on the characters of the soldiers, or of the winged adults.

scholarly journals The Combined Effects of SST and the North Atlantic Subtropical High-Pressure System on the Atlantic Basin Tropical Cyclone Interannual Variability

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 329
Author(s):  
Albenis Pérez-Alarcón ◽  
José C. Fernández-Alvarez ◽  
Rogert Sorí ◽  
Raquel Nieto ◽  
Luis Gimeno
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Interannual Variability ◽  
Central America ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
The West ◽  
The Bahamas ◽  
Pressure System ◽  
North Atlantic Subtropical High ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic

The combined effect of the sea surface temperature (SST) and the North Atlantic subtropical high-pressure system (NASH) in the interannual variability of the genesis of tropical cyclones (TCs) and landfalling in the period 1980–2019 is explored in this study. The SST was extracted from the Centennial Time Scale dataset from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and TC records were obtained from the Atlantic Hurricane Database of the NOAA/National Hurricane Center. The genesis and landfalling regions were objectively clustered for this analysis. Seven regions of TC genesis and five for landfalling were identified. Intercluster differences were observed in the monthly frequency distribution and annual variability, both for genesis and landfalling. From the generalized least square multiple regression model, SST and NASH (intensity and position) covariates can explain 22.7% of the variance of the frequency of TC genesis, but it is only statistically significant (p < 0.1) for the NASH center latitude. The SST mostly modulates the frequency of TCs formed near the West African coast, and the NASH latitudinal variation affects those originated in the Lesser Antilles arc. For landfalling, both covariates explain 38.7% of the variance; however, significant differences are observed in the comparison between each region. With a statistical significance higher than 90%, SST and NASH explain 33.4% of the landfalling variability in the archipelago of the Bahamas and central–eastern region of Cuba. Besides, landfalls in the Gulf of Mexico and Central America seem to be modulated by SST. It was also found there was no statistically significant relationship between the frequency of genesis and landfalling with the NASH intensity. However, the NASH structure modulates the probability density of the TCs trajectory that make landfall once or several times in their lifetime. Thus, the NASH variability throughout a hurricane season affects the TCs trajectory in the North Atlantic basin. Moreover, we found that the landfalling frequency of TCs formed near the West Africa coast and the central North Atlantic is relatively low. Furthermore, the SST and NASH longitude center explains 31.6% (p < 0.05) of the variance of the landfalling intensity in the archipelago of the Bahamas, while the SST explains 26.4% (p < 0.05) in Central America. Furthermore, the 5-year moving average filter revealed decadal and multidecadal variability in both genesis and landfalling by region. Our findings confirm the complexity of the atmospheric processes involved in the TC genesis and landfalling.

scholarly journals I. Report of the observations of the total solar eclipse of August 29, 1886, made at Carriacou

1887 ◽  
Vol 42 (251-257) ◽  
pp. 316-318
Keyword(s):  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
West Indies ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Total Solar Eclipse ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Small Islands ◽  
The West ◽  
The North

Carriacou is a small island situated about twenty miles to the north of the island of Grenada, the chief of the Windward group, and furnished an excellent site for the observation of the last solar eclipse. Most of the observers sent by the Eclipse Committee of the Royal Society to the West Indies in August of last year remained at Grenada, or on the small islands in its immediate vicinity, whilst Mr. Maunder and myself occupied the more distant northern station, where the totality was slightly diminished in duration. The work proposed for Mr. Maunder was to secure a series of photographs of the corona, with exposures of 40s. and under, and also to obtain two photographs of the spectrum of the corona with the longest exposures possible.

scholarly journals Biodiversity of Heteroptera in Puerto Rico: Part III. Conspectus of Pentatomomorpha: Aradoidea, Pyrrhocoroidea, Coreoidea, and Concluding Notes on Endemism and Biogeography

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-102
Author(s):  
Alejandro E. Segarra-Carmona ◽  
Rosa A. Franqui ◽  
Hariette Pérez-Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
West Indies ◽  
Host Plants ◽  
New Records ◽  
Final Part ◽  
The West ◽  
Island Endemics

Superfamilies Aradoidea, Pyrrhocoroidea and Coreoidea from Puerto Rico are discussed as part of an updated account of Hemiptera: Heteroptera. In this final part, we present 48 species belonging to the three superfamilies, with six families known from Puerto Rico: Aradoidea: Aradidae (12); Pyrrhocoroidea: Largidae (1) and Pyrrhocoridae (3); and Coreoidea: Alydidae (5), Rhopalidae (7) and Coreidae (20). Taxonomic accounts presented here include synonymies, known distribution, lists of host plants and a listing of examined specimens. Taxonomical keys are also provided for the identification of all taxa included. Color plates for 43 species are included. Five species are new records for Puerto Rico: Brachyrhynchus membranaceus (F.), Leptoglossus confusus Alayo and Grillo, Eubule scutellata (Westwood), Mamurius cubanus Barber and Bruner, and Merocoris typhaeus (F.). Most species are widespread in the West Indies, with the largest number of island endemics in the Aradidae. A discussion of the origins, biodiversity, biogeography, and endemism of all Puerto Rican Pentatomomorpha is presented.

The Making of the Free Ports Act

2019 ◽  
pp. 105-124
Author(s):  
P. J. Marshall
Keyword(s):  
West Indies ◽  
British West Indies ◽  
The West ◽  
British Atlantic ◽  
British North America ◽  
American Colonies ◽  
The North ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Crucial Component ◽  
British System

Burke became involved with West Indian issues at the very beginning of his political career. The brief Rockingham administration of 1765–6 was committed to measures to improve flows of trade around the British Atlantic, of which the West Indies was a crucial component. As the prime minister’s secretary, Burke was deeply involved in these measures. The main problem which they sought to remedy was the inability of the British West Indies to produce commodities needed in other parts of the Atlantic in sufficient quantities. These commodities were principally sugar and raw cotton for Britain and molasses for British North America. The remedy chosen was to allow foreign supplies of these commodities to enter the British system through what were called free ports in two British islands—Dominica and Jamaica. Burke was particularly influential in the provisions of the act relating to Dominica, whose ports were intended to draw in produce, especially raw cotton, from French islands that the British had occupied during the war. In return, they would export British manufactures and slaves to foreign colonies. Getting the act through Parliament required the careful balancing of interests, notably those of the North American colonies and of the West Indies. Burke was in the thick of these negotiations, forming many contacts with merchants. The act, by letting in foreign produce to British islands, marked a significant breach in the hitherto sacrosanct doctrine of imperial self-sufficiency.

Book Reviews

1994 ◽  
Vol 68 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 135-205
Author(s):  
Redactie KITLV
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Economic History ◽  
West Indies ◽  
South Florida ◽  
The West ◽  
The Bahamas ◽  
University Of Florida ◽  
The People ◽  
The Caribbean

-Peter Hulme, Simon Gikandi, Writing in limbo: Modernism and Caribbean literature. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992. x + 260 pp.-Charles V. Carnegie, Alistair Hennessy, Intellectuals in the twentieth-century Caribbean (Volume 1 - Spectre of the new class: The Commonwealth Caribbean). London: Macmillan, 1992. xvii 204 pp.-Nigel Rigby, Anne Walmsley, The Caribbean artists movement, 1966-1972: A literary and cultural history. London: New Beacon Books, 1992. xx + 356 pp.-Carl Pedersen, Tyrone Tillery, Claude McKay: A black poet's struggle for identity. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1992. xii + 235 pp.-Simone Dreyfus, Irving Rouse, The Tainos: Rise and decline of the people who greeted Columbus. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992. xii + 211 pp.-Louis Allaire, Antonio M. Stevens-Arroyo, Cave of the Jagua: The mythological world of the Taino. Alburquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1988. xiii + 282 pp.-Irving Rouse, William F. Keegan, The people who discovered Columbus: The prehistory of the Bahamas. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1992. xx + 279 pp.-Neil L. Whitehead, Philip P. Boucher, Cannibal encounters: Europeans and Island Caribs, 1492-1763. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1992. xii + 217 pp.-Peter Kloos, Kaliña, des amérindiens à Paris: Photographies du prince Roland. Présentées par Gérard Collomb. Paris: Créaphis, 1992. 119 pp.-Maureen Warner-Lewis, Alan Gregor Cobley ,The African-Caribbean connection: Historical and cultural perspectives. Bridgetown, Barbados: Department of History, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, 1990. viii + 171 pp., Alvin Thompson (eds)-H. Hoetink, Jean-Luc Bonniol, La couleur comme maléfice: une illustration créole de la généalogie des 'Blancs' et des 'Noirs'. Paris: Albin Michel, 1992. 304 pp.-Michael Aceto, Richard Price ,Two evenings in Saramaka. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1991. xvi + 417 pp., Sally Price (eds)-Jorge Pérez Rolón, Vernon W. Boggs, Salsiology: Afro-Cuban music and the evolution of Salsa in New York City. New York: Greenwood, 1992. xvii + 387 pp.-Martin F. Murphy, Sherri Grasmuck ,Between two islands: Dominican international migration. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. xviii + 247 pp., Patricia R. Pessar (eds)-Rosario Espinal, Richard S. Hillman ,Distant neighbors in the Caribbean: The Dominican Republic and Jamaica in comparative perspective. New York: Praeger, 1992. xviii + 199 pp., Thomas D'Agostino (eds)-Svend E. Holsoe, Neville A.T. Hall, Slave society in the Danish West Indies: St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix. Edited by B.W. Higman. Mona, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, 1992. xxiv + 287 pp.-Light Townsend Cummins, Francisco Morales Padrón, The journal of Don Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis 1780-1783. Translated by Aileen Moore Topping. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1989. xxxvii + 380 pp.-Francisco A. Scarano, Laird W. Bergad, Cuban rural society in the nineteenth century: The social and economic history of monoculture in Matanzas. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990. xxi + 425 pp.-Robert L. Paquette, Larry R. Jensen, Children of colonial despotism: Press, politics, and culture in Cuba, 1790-1840. Tampa: University of South Florida Press, 1988. xviii + 211 pp.-Robert L. Paquette, Anton L. Allahar, Class, politics, and sugar in colonial Cuba. Lewiston NY; The Edwin Mellen Press, 1990. xi + 217 pp.-Aline Helg, Josef Opatrny, U.S. Expansionism and Cuban annexationism in the 1850s. Prague: Charles University, 1990. 271 pp.-Rita Giacalone, Humberto García Muñiz ,Bibliografía militar del Caribe. Río Piedras PR: Centro de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1992. 177 pp., Betsaida Vélez Natal (eds)-Carlos E. Santiago, Irma Tirado de Alonso, Trade issues in the Caribbean. Philadelphia: Gordon & Breach, 1992. xv + 231 pp.-Drexel G. Woodson, Frantz Pratt, Haiti: Guide to the periodical literature in English, 1800-1990. Westport CT: Greenwood, 1991. xiv + 313 pp.-Gary Brana-Shute, Livio Sansone, Hangen boven de oceaan: het gewone overleven van Creoolse jongeren in Paramaribo. Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis, 1992. 58 pp.-Ronald Gill, Dolf Huijgers ,Landhuizen van Curacao en Bonaire. Amsterdam: Persimmons Management. 1991. 286 pp., Lucky Ezechiëls (eds)-Alex van Stipriaan, Waldo Heilbron, Colonial transformations and the decomposition of Dutch plantation slavery in Surinam. Amsterdam: Amsterdam centre for Caribbean studies (AWIC), University of Amsterdam, 1992. 133 pp.-Rosemarijn Hoefte, Bea Lalmahomed, Hindostaanse vrouwen: de geschiedenis van zes generaties. Utrecht: Jan van Arkel, 1992. 159 pp.-Aart G. Broek, Peter Hoefnagels ,Antilliaans spreekwoordenboek. Amsterdam: Thomas Rap, 1991. 92 pp., Shon Wé Hoogenbergen (eds)

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