Parocnus browni (Brown's Ground Sloth)

[another specialist]

Mesocnus browni-Cuba

www.extinct.minks-lang.de/index_english.html

[another specialist]

Cuba. Sloths survived into the Holocene in Cuba, as evidenced by an AMS 14C date of 6,250 ± 50 yr (Table 3) on a humerus of the largest West Indian sloth, Megalocnus rodens, from a limestone cave (Cueva Beruvides) in Matanzas Province (37). An even younger date (4,960 ± 280 yr BP) is available for a smaller species, Parocnus brownii, from Las Breas de San Felipe, a small tar pit in Matanzas Province (38, 39). The associated fauna at Cueva Beruvides has not yet been published by its discoverers but is known to include several species of sloths as well as endemic rodents and insectivores. Las Breas de San Felipe has yielded a great variety of fossils in addition to vertebrates, including plants, insects, decapods, and molluscs. The oldest reliable 14C date for a cultural site on Cuba is 5,270 ± 20 yr BP (39).


www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/102/33/11763

[Deleted]

This is a synonym of Parocnus brownii.

source:

Marjorie M. Condis; Osvaldo Jiménez; Fernando Balseiro: 'Mamiferos del Registro Fósil y Asociados a Sitios Arqueológicas de Cuba (Terciaria y Cuaternario)' (2007)

[another specialist]

Dec 7, 2008 11:08:04 GMT @noisi said:

This is a synonym of Parocnus brownii.

source:

Marjorie M. Condis; Osvaldo Jiménez; Fernando Balseiro: 'Mamiferos del Registro Fósil y Asociados a Sitios Arqueológicas de Cuba (Terciaria y Cuaternario)' (2007)

Renamed thread

[another specialist]

Jun 21, 2008 21:32:44 GMT another specialist said:

Mesocnus torrei-Cuba

www.extinct.minks-lang.de/index_english.html

Dec 7, 2008 11:08:11 GMT @noisi said:

This is a synonym of Parocnus brownii.

source:

Marjorie M. Condis; Osvaldo Jiménez; Fernando Balseiro: 'Mamiferos del Registro Fósil y Asociados a Sitios Arqueológicas de Cuba (Terciaria y Cuaternario)' (2007)

[another specialist]

10. Parocnus brownii-Brown's Ground Sloth-Cuba

syn. Mesocnus brownii, Mesonus herrerai, Mesocnus torrei, Nesomesocnus brevirostris

extinctanimals.proboards22.com/index.cgi?board=exsloths&action=display&thread=419

[surroundx]

Jull, A. J. T. et al. (2004). Radiocarbon dating of extinct fauna in the Americas recovered from tar pits. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 223-224: 668-671.

[Sebbe]

Updated checklist of endemic terrestrial mammals of the West Indies

Parocnus browni (Matthew, 1931). Amer. Mus.
Novitates 511: 2.
COMMON NAME Matthew’s ground sloth
TYPE LOCALITY Ciego Montero, near
Cienfuegos Province, Cuba
DISTRIBUTION Cuba
STATUS Extinct
SYNONYMS Barnumia browni Torre, 1911;
Mesocnus browni Matthew, 1931; Mesocnus torrei
Matthew, 1931; Mesocnus herrerai Arredondo,
1977; Neomesocnus brevirostris Arredondo 1961.
COMMENT See White and MacPhee (2001: 224).
Neomesocnus brevirostris was considered a
synonym of Megalocnus rodens (Paula Couto
1967, Mayo 1969, Fischer 1971, White and
MacPhee 2001). Arredondo (2000b) re-evaluated
the type material (rediscovered recently) and
considered that enough diagnostic traits are present
to consider it as a valid taxon. However, Silva-
Taboada et al. (2007) argue for the synonymy of
this form with P. browni.

www.researchgate.net/publication/273831338_UPDATED_CHECKLIST_OF_ENDEMIC_TERRESTRIAL_MAMMALS_OF_THE_WEST_INDIES

[Sebbe]

NEW QUATERNARY FOSSILS FROM HIGH ELEVATION CAVE DEPOSITS IN CUBA.

High elevation fossil deposits in Cuba have been poorly studied, and there is a limited understanding of how altitudinal changes could have affected the composition of faunal communities in the past. Here, we report fossils of 13 vertebrate species and an invertebrate from 11 late Quaternary cave deposits at elevations ranging from 532 to 1123 meters above sea level, located in the Guamuhaya Masiff in central Cuba. The composition of the vertebrate fauna assemblages recovered from these localities resembles that known from other lowland deposits and includes eight extinct, one extirpated, and four extant species. Furthermore, the specimens reported here record the highest elevation known for nine species recovered.

www.novitatescaribaea.do/index.php/novitates/article/view/359

[Sebbe]

Biodiversity and conservation of Cuban mammals: past, present, and invasive species.

Land mammals of the Caribbean Islands biodiversity hotspot have suffered a high rate of extinction since human arrival, principally in the last 500 years since colonialism began. Here, we present an extensive review and bibliography of this topic in Cuba, including details regarding the surviving endemic species of volant and terrestrial mammals and locations of species on 121 protected areas. We analyzed patterns of species richness, endemism, body mass, diet, habitat, geographic distribution of the observed richness, conservation threats, and possible causes and threats to future extinction. Cuban mammal biodiversity is comprised of 59 native species, 24 extinct species and 35 extant species, most of which are endemic to the Cuban archipelago. We compared the threats of habitat destruction and hunting, with emphasis on invasive mammal species as drivers of historical extinction in Cuba. A total of 44 mammal species have been introduced since 1509, with 33 invasive species living in the wild and exerting differing degrees of impact, principally by predation and competition. Additionally, we evaluated interactions among invasive and native mammals, emphasizing predation of feral cats upon Solenodon cubanus, Capromys pilorides, and other small endemic vertebrates as determined from analyses of scat contents. We found that black rats (Rattus rattus) reach densities of 147–322 individuals/ha in Solenodon habitat, thus likely are major competitors for food and refuges to these evolutionarily distinct and endangered Cuban mammals.

www.researchgate.net/publication/319213521_Biodiversity_and_conservation_of_Cuban_mammals_past_present_and_invasive_species

[Sebbe]

Assessing the role of humans in Greater Antillean land vertebrate extinctions: new insights from Cuba.

The Caribbean archipelago is a hotspot of biodiversity characterized by a high rate of extinction. Recent studies have examined these losses, but the causes of the Antillean Late Quaternary vertebrate extinctions, and especially the role of humans, are still unclear. Previous results provide support for climate-related and human-induced extinctions, but often downplaying other complex bio-ecological factors that are difficult to model or to detect from the fossil and archaeological record. Here, we discuss Caribbean vertebrate extinctions and the potential role of humans derived from new and existing fossil and archaeological data from Cuba. Our results indicate that losses of Cuba’s native fauna occurred in waves: one during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, a second during the middle Holocene, and a third one during the last 2 ka, combining the arrival of agroceramists and later of Europeans. The coexistence of now-extinct species with multiple cultural groups in Cuba for over 4 ka implies that Cuban indigenous nonceramic cultures exerted far fewer extinction pressures to native fauna than the later agroceramists and Europeans that followed. This suggests a determinant value to increased technological sophistication and demographics as plausible effective extinction drivers. Beyond looking at dates of first human arrival alone, future studies should also consider cultural diversity with attention to different bio-ecological factors that influence these biodiversity changes.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.01.27.922237v3.full