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A New Megalonychid Sloth From The Late Wisconsinan Of The Dominican Republic, Elizabeth Rega, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Joyce Lundberg, Keith Christenson
A New Megalonychid Sloth From The Late Wisconsinan Of The Dominican Republic, Elizabeth Rega, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Joyce Lundberg, Keith Christenson
WM Keck Science Faculty Papers
An unusually well preserved skull, mandible, and indisputably associated post-cranial elements of new sloth, Acratocnus (Miocnus), were recovered from a cave in Jaragua National Park, Dominican Republic. The animal died lying in a rimstone pool and was rapidly coated with a thin calcite patina. We have documented a late Wisconsinan age for this specimen by inorganic 14C radiometric dating of the patina, with supporting data on the carbon systematics of the speleothems in this cave. This sloth is described as a new species on the basis of the distinctive morphology and relative size of cranial and mandibular features. We consider …
A Late Quaternary Paleoecological Record From Caves Of Southern Jamaica, West Indies, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Joyce Lundberg, A.G. Fincham
A Late Quaternary Paleoecological Record From Caves Of Southern Jamaica, West Indies, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Joyce Lundberg, A.G. Fincham
WM Keck Science Faculty Papers
Studies of an unusual and diverse system of caves in coastal southern Jamaica have yielded a paleoclimatic record associated with a fossil vertebrate record that provides useful insights into the poorly documented paleoecology of latest Wisconsinan and Holocene Jamaica. Episodes of significantly increased precipitation during the Holocene have left characteristic deposits of speleothems, and have supported both faunal and archaeological communities that were dependent on these mesic conditions. Deposits of fossil bat guano preserved in the caves provide a δ¹³C record of alternating mesic and xeric climatic episodes that supports the interpretation of the faunal and archaeological record.