Pré-Publication, Document De Travail Année : 2024

History of Hylode Eleutherodactylus johnstonei (Barbour, 1914) Origin and Dispersion of the Endemic Species of the Eastern Caribbean

Résumé

Fundamentally this history of the Eleutherodactylus johnstonei endemic to the Caribbean, tracing their origin and their dispersal, reconstituted on the basis of data from paleobiology and paleogeology of the biodiversity of the Caribbean, contributes to a questioning of the vision until then admitted underestimating the tectonic geological history, presenting an eastern Caribbean which would be made up of an archipelago of "oceanic islands which would have emerged one after the other due to volcanic activities", for which the very existence of a terrestrial fauna (insects, molluscs, vertebrates: mammals, reptiles and amphibians, in particular) which would come from elsewhere and then become endemic there, would be explained according to current dominant discourse hypothetically by dubious scenarios of multiple "rafting", that is to say, dispersions of these animal species from the shores of northern South America crossing marine expanses while drifting on rafts of plants to be imagined to run aground randomly on islands. But the rate of endemism of the central islands of the eastern Caribbean, and particularly of Martinique, and the latest advances and research results in paleogeology tend to invalidate such scenarios of populations of these central islands of Saint Lucia, Martinique and Dominica by rafting successions. The endemic flora and fauna species of the central islands of the Eastern Caribbean have not crossed the sea, nor even crossed the marine expanses by air, to find themselves isolated on these islands; these species found themselves progressively isolated from an average of 35 million years ago, due to a detachment of a northern part of the South American continental crust, which tectonically drifted forming an isthmus then a large island, which will slide along the subduction zone of the Caribbean arc, until a collision at the latitude of the Dominica channel, before disintegrating and being submerged. Fundamental research for scientific knowledge in paleogeology and paleobiology is crucial for the management and conservation of biodiversity and therefore the fight against invasive exotic species in the Caribbean islands. The demonstration of the existence of proto-Matïna (35 Ma BP) and Matïna clearly emerged until around 27 Ma BP, should remove the uncertainties expressed by researchers as to the origin of the speciation of the hylode Eleutherodactylus johnstonei and therefore resolve the cryptogenic problem concerning this species. We therefore propose a reconstructed history of the hylodes of the Caribbean through that of the singular species Eleutherodactylus johnstonei; history necessarily determined by the geologicaltectonic history of this geographical region; history consistent with phylogenetic data and current distributions of these endemic hylodes. Historical scenario therefore leading to the current distributions of a number of faunal species on the Caribbean islands, and particularly explaining the endemism known for Saint Lucia and Martinique, concerning animal species of mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and sedentary birds, molluscs and insects.

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hal-04663227 , version 1 (26-07-2024)

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  • HAL Id : hal-04663227 , version 1

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Marcel Bourgade. History of Hylode Eleutherodactylus johnstonei (Barbour, 1914) Origin and Dispersion of the Endemic Species of the Eastern Caribbean. 2024. ⟨hal-04663227⟩
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