Unraveling the Strange Case of the First Canarian Land Fauna (Lower Pliocene)

Geological data of the region indicate that the Canary Islands have not been connected to the mainland before. However, fossil evidence suggests some kind of faunal exchange with Africa during the late Neogene. After extensive field work during past years, a re-evaluation of the fossil remains of th...

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Autores: Sánchez-Marco, Antonio, Amiot, Romain, Angst, Delphine, Bailon, Salvador, Betancort, Juan Francisco, Buffetaut, Eric, García-Castellano, Emma, Guillén-Vargas, Lourdes, Lazzerini, Nicolas, Lécuyer, Christophe, Lomoschitz, Alejandro, López-Jurado, Luis Felipe, Luján, Àngel H., Perera-Betancort, María Antonia, Salesa, Manuel J., Sellés, Albert G., Siliceo, Gema
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/399033
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/399033
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Fossil eggshells
Canary Islands
Pliocene
Ratites
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spelling Unraveling the Strange Case of the First Canarian Land Fauna (Lower Pliocene)Sánchez-Marco, AntonioAmiot, RomainAngst, DelphineBailon, SalvadorBetancort, Juan FranciscoBuffetaut, EricGarcía-Castellano, EmmaGuillén-Vargas, LourdesLazzerini, NicolasLécuyer, ChristopheLomoschitz, AlejandroLópez-Jurado, Luis FelipeLuján, Àngel H.Perera-Betancort, María AntoniaSalesa, Manuel J.Sellés, Albert G.Siliceo, GemaFossil eggshellsCanary IslandsPlioceneRatitesGeological data of the region indicate that the Canary Islands have not been connected to the mainland before. However, fossil evidence suggests some kind of faunal exchange with Africa during the late Neogene. After extensive field work during past years, a re-evaluation of the fossil remains of the first terrestrial vertebrates that settled and thrived on the Canary Islands is presented, with special attention to the long-debated identity of birds that laid large-sized eggs, reported some decades ago on Lanzarote Island. The age of the eggshell-bearing deposits has been recently updated as Early Pliocene (ca. 4 Ma). The dispersal mode of these terrestrial birds to reach the island was an unsolvable challenge in previous studies because the regional geography of the sea bottom was neglected, as well as the chronological succession of events in the formation of the Canary Eastern Ridge, which increased attention to a unique case of arrival of ratites on an island never before united with the mainland. The few animals found in northern Lanzarote (ratites, snakes, turtles, terrestrial snails and bite marks on eggshells pointing to a jagged and unknown large predator) probably made the sea crossing from the mainland in different ways. Two scenarios are contemplated. In both, the circumstances facilitating the faunal transit from Africa to the Canaries ceased after the early Pliocene, around 4 Ma, since these animals have never managed to cross the Canary Channel again.Fieldwork was supported by Cabildo de Lanzarote and the General Directorate for the Heritage of the Canary Islands Government.Peer reviewedMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing InstituteCabildo de LanzaroteGobierno de CanariasSalesa, Manuel J. [0000-0003-0404-7896]Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]2025202520252025info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Publisher's versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/399033reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)InglésThe underlying dataset has been published as supplementary material of the article in the publisher platform at DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/fossils3030013https://doi.org/10.3390/fossils3030013Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/3990332026-05-22T06:33:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Unraveling the Strange Case of the First Canarian Land Fauna (Lower Pliocene)
title Unraveling the Strange Case of the First Canarian Land Fauna (Lower Pliocene)
spellingShingle Unraveling the Strange Case of the First Canarian Land Fauna (Lower Pliocene)
Sánchez-Marco, Antonio
Fossil eggshells
Canary Islands
Pliocene
Ratites
title_short Unraveling the Strange Case of the First Canarian Land Fauna (Lower Pliocene)
title_full Unraveling the Strange Case of the First Canarian Land Fauna (Lower Pliocene)
title_fullStr Unraveling the Strange Case of the First Canarian Land Fauna (Lower Pliocene)
title_full_unstemmed Unraveling the Strange Case of the First Canarian Land Fauna (Lower Pliocene)
title_sort Unraveling the Strange Case of the First Canarian Land Fauna (Lower Pliocene)
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Sánchez-Marco, Antonio
Amiot, Romain
Angst, Delphine
Bailon, Salvador
Betancort, Juan Francisco
Buffetaut, Eric
García-Castellano, Emma
Guillén-Vargas, Lourdes
Lazzerini, Nicolas
Lécuyer, Christophe
Lomoschitz, Alejandro
López-Jurado, Luis Felipe
Luján, Àngel H.
Perera-Betancort, María Antonia
Salesa, Manuel J.
Sellés, Albert G.
Siliceo, Gema
author Sánchez-Marco, Antonio
author_facet Sánchez-Marco, Antonio
Amiot, Romain
Angst, Delphine
Bailon, Salvador
Betancort, Juan Francisco
Buffetaut, Eric
García-Castellano, Emma
Guillén-Vargas, Lourdes
Lazzerini, Nicolas
Lécuyer, Christophe
Lomoschitz, Alejandro
López-Jurado, Luis Felipe
Luján, Àngel H.
Perera-Betancort, María Antonia
Salesa, Manuel J.
Sellés, Albert G.
Siliceo, Gema
author_role author
author2 Amiot, Romain
Angst, Delphine
Bailon, Salvador
Betancort, Juan Francisco
Buffetaut, Eric
García-Castellano, Emma
Guillén-Vargas, Lourdes
Lazzerini, Nicolas
Lécuyer, Christophe
Lomoschitz, Alejandro
López-Jurado, Luis Felipe
Luján, Àngel H.
Perera-Betancort, María Antonia
Salesa, Manuel J.
Sellés, Albert G.
Siliceo, Gema
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Cabildo de Lanzarote
Gobierno de Canarias
Salesa, Manuel J. [0000-0003-0404-7896]
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Fossil eggshells
Canary Islands
Pliocene
Ratites
topic Fossil eggshells
Canary Islands
Pliocene
Ratites
description Geological data of the region indicate that the Canary Islands have not been connected to the mainland before. However, fossil evidence suggests some kind of faunal exchange with Africa during the late Neogene. After extensive field work during past years, a re-evaluation of the fossil remains of the first terrestrial vertebrates that settled and thrived on the Canary Islands is presented, with special attention to the long-debated identity of birds that laid large-sized eggs, reported some decades ago on Lanzarote Island. The age of the eggshell-bearing deposits has been recently updated as Early Pliocene (ca. 4 Ma). The dispersal mode of these terrestrial birds to reach the island was an unsolvable challenge in previous studies because the regional geography of the sea bottom was neglected, as well as the chronological succession of events in the formation of the Canary Eastern Ridge, which increased attention to a unique case of arrival of ratites on an island never before united with the mainland. The few animals found in northern Lanzarote (ratites, snakes, turtles, terrestrial snails and bite marks on eggshells pointing to a jagged and unknown large predator) probably made the sea crossing from the mainland in different ways. Two scenarios are contemplated. In both, the circumstances facilitating the faunal transit from Africa to the Canaries ceased after the early Pliocene, around 4 Ma, since these animals have never managed to cross the Canary Channel again.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2025
2025
2025
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Publisher's version
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/399033
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/399033
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv The underlying dataset has been published as supplementary material of the article in the publisher platform at DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/fossils3030013
https://doi.org/10.3390/fossils3030013
Sí
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,81155

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