The Great American Biotic Interchange

TOPICS IN GEOBIOLOGY Series Editor: F. G. Stehli, University of Oklahoma

Volume 1 SKELETAL GROWTH OF AQUATIC ORGANISMS Biological Records of Environmental Change Edited by Donald C. Rhoads and Richard A. Lutz

Volume 2 ANIMAL-SEDIMENT RELATIONS The Biogenic Alteration of Sediments Edited by Peter L. McCall and Michael j. S. Tevesz

Volume 3 BIOTIC INTERACTIONS IN RECENT AND FOSSIL BENTHIC COMMUNITIES Edited by Michael j. S. Tevesz and Peter 1. McCall

Volume 4 THE GREAT AMERICAN BIOTIC INTERCHANGE Edited by Francis C. Stehli and S. David Webb.

Volume 5 MAGNETITE BIOMINERALIZATION AND MAGNETORECEPTION IN ORGANISMS A New Biomagnetism Edited by joseph L. Kirschvink. Dougla~ S. jones. and Bruce j. MacFadden

The Great Am.erican Biotic Interchange

Edited by Francis G. Stehli University of Oklahoma Norman, Oklahoma

and S. David Webb The Florida State Museum University of Florida Gainesvi11e, Florida

Springer Science + Business Media, LLC

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Main entry under title:

The Great American biotic interchange.

(Topics in geobiology; v. 4) Includes bibliographies and index. 1. Paleobiogeography-America. 2. Plate tectonics. I. Stehli. Francis Greenough.

II. Webb. S. David (Sawney David). 1936- . III. Series. QE721.2.P24G74 1985 560'.1'78091812 85-19133

ISBN 978-1-4684-9183-8 ISBN 978-1-4684-9181-4 (eBook) DOl 10.1007/978-1-4684-9181-4

@ 1985 Springer Science+Business Media New York

Originally published by Plenum Press. New York in 1985.

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced. stored in a retrieval system. or transmitted. in any form or by any means. electronic. mechanical. photocopying. microfilming. recording. or otherwise. without written permission from the Publisher

Dedicated to George Gaylord Simpson (1902-1984), 10 gave the Great American Interchange

real life.

Contributors

Ana Baez Departamento de Geologia, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellon II, Ciudad Universitaria, 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina. Present address: Department of Geology, Weiss School of Natural Sciences, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77215

Mariano Bond Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Divisi6n Paleontologia Verte­brados, 1900 La Plata, Argentina

William A. Bussing Escuela de Biologia, Universidad de Costa Rica, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, Costa Rica

Richard L. Cifelli Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smith­sonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560

Thomas W. Donnelly Department of Geological Sciences, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, New York 13901

Robert G. Douglas Department of Geological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089

Richard Estes Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182

Philip D. Gingerich Musuem of Paleontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich­igan 48109

Wulf A. Gose Department of Geological Sciences and Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78713

Phyllis F. Hasson Department of Geology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611

W. Ronald Heyer Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Smithsonian Institution, Washing-ton, D.C. 20560

Douglas S. Jones Florida State Museum, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611

Michael A. Mares Stovall Museum, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019

Larry G. Marshall Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721

John L. Neff Department of Botany, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78713

Rosendo Pascual Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Divisi6n Paleontologia Ver­tebrados, 1900 La Plata, Argentina

Samuel M. Savin Department of Geological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106

Beryl B. Simpson Department of Botany, University of Texas, AusEn, Texas 78713

vii

viii Contributors

Douglas 1. Smith Department of Geology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611

Francis G. Stehli College of Geosciences, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019

P. E. Vanzolini Musea de Zoologia, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil

Maria G. Vucetich Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Divisi6n Paleontologia Ver­tebrados, 1900 La Plata, Argentina

Fran~ois Vuilleumier Department of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York 10024

S. David Webb Florida State Museum, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611

Albert E. Wood Professor of Biology, Emeritus, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002. Present address: 20 Hereford Avenue, Cape May Court House, New Jersey 08210

Gustavo J. Scillato-Yane Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Divisi6n Paleontologia Vertebrados, 1900 La Plata, Argentina

Preface

Two rather different elements combine to explain the origin of this volume: one scientific and one personal. The broader of the two is the scientific basis-the time for such a volume had arrived. Geology had made remarkable progress toward an understanding of the phys­ical history of the Caribbean Basin for the last 100 million years or so. On the biological side, many new discoveries had elucidated the distributional history of terrestrial orga­nisms in and between the two Americas. Geological and biological data had been combined to yield the timing of important events with unprecedented resolution. Clearly, when each of two broad disciplines is making notable advances and when each provides new insights for the other, the rewards of cross-disciplinary contacts increase exponentially.

The present volume represents an attempt to bring together a group of geologists, paleontologists and biologists capable of exploiting this opportunity through presentation of an interdisciplinary synthesis of evidence and hypothesis concerning interamerican connections during the Cretaceous and Cenozoic. Advances in plate tectonics form the basis for a modern synthesis and, in the broadest terms, dictate the framework within which the past and present distributions of organisms must be interpreted. Any scientific dis­cipline must seek tests of its conclusions from data outside of its own confines. Thus, when paleontological records of biological distributions are robustly fixed in both time and space, they provide valuable tests of first order tectonic hypotheses regarding the distribution of land and sea. The biological data can provide, as well, a broad array of environmental information fixing such parameters as salinity, temperature, geographic continuity and habitat conditions. A major value of synthesis, such as is attempted here, is that it enlarges the dialog between what are too frequently discrete disciplines, forcing the recognition of new questions and evoking new hypotheses from the diverse branches of historical science. We are most grateful to our coauthors for their expertise and for the goodwill with which they have made it available to produce what we hope is a well-balanced and current syn­thesis of a great range of subjects.

The second element behind the genesis of this volume stems from the personal ex­periences of its editors. Each of us has been intrigued by and involved with, in one way or another, the "Great American Interchange." And, as it happens, each of us has been influenced directly by the brilliance and breadth of earlier studies on this general subject by the late George Gaylord Simpson. For Stehli, George Simpson was mentor and hero at Columbia University. For Webb, the influence came later but no less powerfully through letters, literature, and friendship. When, in 1980, we chanced to become colleagues at the University of Florida, it was apparent to both of us that this subject was ripe for renewed synthesis. Also, in that same year, George Simpson came to our campus to present a Fron­tiers of Science lecture, entitled Splendid Isolation: the Curious History of South American Mammals. This lecture served as the catalyst that galvanized us into action. Immediately following that marvelous lecture, we determined to invite a score of key authors to develop a current review.

It is therefore altogether appropriate that this volume, completed one year after his death, should be dedicated to George Gaylord Simpson.

Francis G. Stehli S. David Webb

ix

Contents

I. The Framework: An Overview

Chapter 1 • A Kaleidoscope of Plates, Faunal and Floral Dispersals, and Sea Level Changes

Francis G. Stehli and S. David Webb

1. Introduction ......................................... 3 2. The Importance of Refined Chronology in Correlating Events in

Plate Tectonics and Organic Evolution ..................... 5 3. Paleomagnetic Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4. New Depth in Our Knowledge of the Sea ................... 6 5. The Importance of Plate-Tectonic Theory ................... 7 6. The New Historical Biogeography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7. What Is Land, What Is Sea-Fluctuating Sea Levels . . . . . . . . . . . 12 8. Change in Climates .................................... 13 9. Time Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

References ........................................... 15

Chapter 2 • Caribbean Plate Relative Motions

Douglas L. Smith

1. Introduction ......... '................................ 17 2. Present Configuration of Plates ........................... 18 3. Determination of Relative Plate Motions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 4. Plate Motions ........................................ 35 5. Tectonic Models ...................................... 37 6. Summary............................................ 43

References ........................................... 46

Chapter 3 • Geochronology and Land-Mammal Biochronology of the Transamerican Faunal Interchange

Larry G. Marshall

1. Introduction ......................................... 49

xi

xii Contents

2. A Calibration for the Age of Mammals in South America .. . . . . . 50

3. Occurence and Chronology of Relevant "Interchange" Age Rocks and Faunas in South America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

4. Fossil Record of Mammalian Participants in the Interchange .... 67 5. Biochronology........................................ 71 6. Discussion and Conclusions ............................. 76

References .......................................... . 78

II. In the Beginning: A Cretaceous-Paleogene View

Chapter 4 • Mesozoic and Cenozoic Plate Evolution of the Caribbean Region

Thomas W. Donnelly

1. Introduction ......................................... 89 2. The Pre-Cretaceous: Initial Opening of the Caribbean .. . . . . . . . . 96 3. The Early and Middle Cretaceous: The Flood Basalt Episode .... 98 4. The Late Cretaceous: Beginnings of Compression ............. 105 5. The Early Tertiary: A Time of Tectonic Relaxation . . . .. . . . . . . . . 108 6. Eocene: Closing of the Central American Isthmus to Deep Oceanic

Circulation .......................................... 110 7. Middle and Late Tertiary: A Period of Mild Compression. . . . . . . 112 8. Summary and Implications for Biogeography ................ 115

References ........................................... 116

Chapter 5 • South American Mammals in the Paleocene of North America

Philip D. Gingerich

1. Introduction ......................................... 123 2. Mammalian Faunas of the North American Paleocene ......... 124 3. South American Affinities of North American Paleocene

Edentata, Notoungulata, and Dinocerata .................... 125 4. Discussion: Paleocene Climates and Biogeography ............ 132 5. Summary............................................ 135

References ..................................... . . . . . . 135

Chapter 6 • Herpetofaunas of North and South America during the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic: Evidence for Interchange?

Richard Estes and Ana Baez

1. Introduction ......................................... 140 2. The Mesoamerican Fossil Record ......................... 142

Contents xiii

3. Coverage of Groups .................................... 142 4. Chronostratigraphic Framework .......................... 143 5. Late Mesozoic ........................................ 143 6. Paleocene ........................................... 151 7. Eocene ............................................. 153 8. Oligocene ........................................... 156 9. Miocene ............................................ 158

10. Pliocene ............................................ 163 11. Pleistocene .......................................... 165 12. Conclusions.......................................... 166

References ......................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Appendix ........................................... 181

III. In Isolation: A Tertiary View

Chapter 7 • Main Pathways of Mammalian Diversification in North America

S. David Webb

1. Introduction ......................................... 201 2. Late Cretaceous ....................................... 203 3. Paleocene ........................................... 204 4. Eocene ............................................. 205 5. Oligocene ........................................... 207 6. Miocene ............................................ 209 7. Pliocene ............................................ 210 8. Pleistocene .......................................... 211 9. Extinctions .......................................... 212

10. Dispersal Episodes in North American Land Mammals. . . . . . . . . 212 References ........................................... 214

Chapter 8 • Main Pathways of Mammalian Diversification in South America

Rosendo Pascual, Maria G. Vucetich, Gustavo J. Scillato-Yane, and Mariano Bond

1. Geologic History of the Southern Tip Related to Its Present Zoogeography and Physiography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

2. The Dawn: The Cretaceous Record: Suggestions More Than Facts 226 3. The Beginning of the Cenozoic Record: The Basic Diversification

Had Been Achieved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 4. The Most Autochthonous Part of the History: The South

American Lineages were Established. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 5. The First Major Change: Toward a Modernization ............ 232

xiv Contents

6. The Pan-Santacrucian Cycle: The Southernmost Record of Modern History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

7. The Pan-Araucanian Cycle: From Extensive Plains to Eastern Pampas ............................................. 236 References ................................. . . . . . . . . . . 239

Chapter 9 • South American Ungulate Evolution and Extinction

Richard L. Cifelli

1. Introduction ......................................... 249 2. South American Ungulate Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 3. Morphologic and Taxonomic Evolution .................... 257

References ................................. . . . . . . . . . . 263

Chapter 10 • Northern Waif Primates and Rodents

Albert E. Wood

1. The Eocene Invaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 2. Dates of Arrival of Primates and Rodents in South America . . . . . 268 3. Geographic Source of the Platyrrhines and Caviomorphs ....... 270 4. Possible Ancestral Stocks of the Platyrrhines and Caviomorphs . . . 273 5. Conclusions.......................................... 278

References ........................................... 278

IV. The Great Interchange: A Close View

Chapter 11 • Caribbean Tectonics from a Paleomagnetic Perspective

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

WulfA. Gose

Introduction Problem Definition ................................... . Paleomagnetic Results from Central America ............... . Caribbean Paleomagnetism ............................. . Discussion .......................................... . Conclusion ......................................... . References .......................................... .

285 287 288 293 295 296 298

Contents xv

Chapter 12 • Sea Level, Climate, and the Central American Land Bridge

Samuel M. Savin and Robert G. Douglas

1. Introduction ......................................... 303 2. Major Features of Eustatic Sea Level Change ................ 304 3. Sea Level and the Isotopic Record of Marine Climate . . . . . . . . . . 309 4. Conclusions.......................................... 321

References ........................................... 322

Chapter 13 • History and Development of the Marine Invertebrate Faunas Separated by the Central American Isthmus

Douglas S. Jones and Phyllis F. Hasson

1. Introduction ......................................... 325 2. Woodring's Miocene Caribbean Province ................... 327 3. A Two-Paleoprovince Concept ........................... 331 4. Modern Provinces ..................................... 338 5. Microfossils: Dating the Emergence of the Isthmus of Panama ... 343 6. Conclusions.......................................... 348

References ........................................... 351

Chapter 14 • Late Cenozoic Mammal Dispersals Between the Americas

S. David Webb

1. Introduction ......................................... 357 2. Heralds of the South . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 3. Heralds of the North ................................... 360 4. Legions of the North ................................... 360 5. Summary of Remarks on Mammal Dispersals to South America. . 369 6. Legions of the South ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 7. Interamerican Savanna Corridor .......................... 378 8. Faunal Dynamics of the Interchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 9. Conclusions.......................................... 381

References ........................................... 382

Chapter 15 • Fossil and Recent Avifaunas and the Interamerican Exchange

Franc;;ois Vuilleumier

1. Introduction ......................................... 387 2. The Family Cracidae and Continental Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . 388

xvi Contents

3. Recent American Avifaunas and the Interchange ............. 389 4. Fossil American Avifaunas and the Interchange .............. 393 5. Conclusions and Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Appendix 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 Appendix 2 ................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 References .............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

V. After the Interchange: The Present View

Chapter 16 • Plants. Their Pollinating Bees. and the Great American Interchange

Beryl B. Simpson and John L. Neff

1. Introduction ......................................... 427 2. Tropical Lowland and Montane Forest ..................... 428 3. High Montane Habitats ................................. 436 4. Warm Arid Habitats ................................... 440 5. Mediterranean Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446 6. Summary............................................ 448

References ........................................... 449

Chapter 17 • Patterns of Distribution of the Central American Ichthyofauna

William A. Bussing

1. Introduction ......................................... 453 2. Methodology......................................... 454 3. Patterns of Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454 4. Temporal Factors ..................................... 462 5. Dispersal............................................ 465 6. Vicariance........................................... 467 7. Historical Perspective .................................. 470 8. Conclusions.......................................... 471

References ........................................... 472

Chapter 18 • The American Herpetofauna and the Interchange

P. E. Vanzolini and W. Ronald Heyer

1. Introduction ......................................... 475 2. Definition of the Faunal Assemblages ..................... . 476 3. Nature of the American Herpetofaunas ..................... 476 4. The Amphibians of the Interchange ....................... 477 5. The Reptiles of the Interchange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

Contents xvii

6. Zoogeographic Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484 References ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

Chapter 19 • Mammal Faunas of Xeric Habitats and the Great American Interchange

Michael A. Mares

1. Introduction ......................................... 489 2. The Deserts and Grasslands of the Americas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 3. The Interchange ...................................... 499 4. Conclusions.......................................... 514

References ........................................... 514

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521