Contrasting Patterns and Mechanisms of Extinction during the Eocene–Oligocene Transition in Jamaica

Abstract

The Eocene–Oligocene transition was an important period of global extinction. Jamaica is used as an example of how local influences in both the terrestrial and shallow marine realms contributed to the global pattern. In the early Middle Eocene, Jamaica had a coastal terrestrial fauna that included a rhinoceros, amphibious prorastomid sirenians, an archontan, eusuchian crocodiles, and an anolid? lizard. Before the late Middle Eocene, the island was completely submerged, drowning non-amphibious members of this fauna. This extinction was apparently driven by local changes of relative sea level.