Late Quaternary vertebrate faunas of the Lesser Antilles: Historical components of Caribbean biogeography

Abstract

The vertebrate fossil record of the Lesser Antilles, restricted to the late Quaternary, contains a wealth of biogeographical and systematic data on Caribbean amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Fifteen noncultural (paleontological) sites, known from seven islands, are both late Pleistocene and Holocene in age. New fossil material from seven of these sites is described herein. Thirty-three cultural (archaeological) sites, known from 16 islands, are mostly less than 2,000 years old (latest Holocene). The vertebrate record from the first two millennia of human occupation in the Lesser Antilles (ca. 4,000-2,000 years ago) is relatively poorly documented, but the record is sufficient for the following 1,500 years to reveal patterns of human subsistence and their effect on indigenous populations of vertebrates. Noncultural. late Pleistocene vertebrates are best known from caves in the Leeward Islands, especially Barbuda. Practically all of the numerous extinct species or populations of iguanians, various birds, and bats from these sites in the Leeward Islands have Greater Antillean affinity. The faunal distinction between the Greater and Lesser Antilles that is evident today was almost nonexistent during the late Pleistocene at least as far south as the Guadeloupe Passage. The Holocene vertebrate record, whether from cultural or noncultural sites, reveals 79 species and populations that no longer occur on a given island. Most, perhaps all. of these faunal losses can be related to prehistoric and/or historic human activities.