Early Holocene fauna from a new subfossil site: A first assessment from Christmas River, south central Madagascar

Abstract

We report on faunal remains recovered during recent explorations at 'Christmas River', the only subfossil locality known

A new late Pleistocene subfossil site (Tsaramody, Sambaina basin, central Madagascar) with implications for the chronology of habitat and megafaunal community change on Madagascar's Central Highlands

“…Beginning in the early Holocene, forest-dependent animals, such as lemurs, were common at high as well as middle and low elevations (Table 5). With the exceptions of highly specialized genera such as Hadropithecus and Daubentonia (see , and insectivorous cheirogaleids, lemurs primarily consumed C 3 resources, regardless of altitude (Crowley, 2010;Faure et al, 2010;Muldoon et al, 2012;Simons et al, 1995b). This includes an early Holocene Archaeolemur edwardsi from Ampasambazimba (11 610 cal a BP; Crowley, 2010), whose δ 13 C value (− 24.0‰) contrasts strongly with the Archaeolemur at the same site during the last glaciation (δ 13 C = −16.7‰).…”

“…This includes Christmas River which (at 793 m) lies just below the lower limit for the Central Highlands. The early Holocene fauna of Christmas River included not merely water-dwelling fauna such as hippos and crocodiles, but also more terrestrial and forest-dependent fauna including Aepyornis maximus, euplerids, archaeolemurids, megaladapids and lemurids Muldoon et al, 2012).…”

“…There has been much speculation about the role of the Central Highlands before, and after, the arrival of humans on Madagascar, both as a barrier to and as a corridor for east-west dispersal of animals (Muldoon et al, 2012). Rainfall, temperature and elevation all probably affect the ecological suitability of highland habitats for different vertebrate communities.…”

“…Indri indri, Prolemur simus), as well as extinct, highly arboreal species (e.g. 'sloth lemurs' family Palaeopropithecidae; the 'koala lemur' Megaladapis), demonstrate that central Madagascar was at least periodically more forested in the past (Godfrey et al, 1999;Goodman & Rakotondravony, 1996;Goodman & Rakotozafy, 1997;Goodman et al, 2006Goodman et al, , 2007Muldoon et al, 2009Muldoon et al, , 2012. Additionally, mixed eastern and western faunas exist today in high-altitude pockets of humid and subhumid rainforest topographically part of the Central Highlands, such as Tsinjoarivo (Irwin et al, 2013) and Ambohitantely (Burgess et al, 2004).…”

Elwyn Simons: Opening windows into Madagascar's past

“…The ∼40 publications on subfossil lemurs penned by Elwyn Simons and collaborators feature diverse topics. These include lemur systematics and phylogeny (Godfrey et al, ; Jungers et al, ; Simons, Godfrey, Jungers, Chatrath, & Rakotosamimanana, ; Tattersall, Simons, & Vuillaume‐Randriamanantena, ; Vuillaume‐Randriamanantena, Godfrey, Jungers, & Simons, ; Simons et al, ), past versus present biogeography, temporal ranges of subfossil lemurs, community characteristics, and the chronology of extinction of large lemurs and associated fauna (Jungers, Godfrey, Simons, & Chatrath, ; Simons, Burney, Chatrath, Godfrey, Jungers, & Rakotosamimanana, ; Godfrey, Jungers, Reed, Simons, & Chatrath, ; Simons, ; Godfrey, Jungers, Simons, Chatrath, & Rakotosamimana, ; Godfrey, Simons, Jungers, DeBlieux, & Chatrath, ; Muldoon & Simons, ; Muldoon et al, ; Muldoon, Crowley, Godfrey, Rasoamiaramanana, Aronson, Jernvall, Wright, & Simons, ; Muldoon, Crowley, Godfrey, & Simons, ). Other topics are reconstructing the behavior of extinct animals (Jungers, Godfrey, Simons, Wunderlich, Richmond, Chatrath, & Rakotosamimanana, ), subfossil lemur ontogeny, dental microstructure and life history (Ravosa & Simons, ; King, Godfrey, & Simons, ; Schwartz, Samonds, Godfrey, Jungers, & Simons, ; Ravosa, Stock, Simons, & Kunwar, ), dental microwear and occlusal texture analysis (Godfrey, Semprebon, Jungers, Sutherland, Simons, & Solounias, ; Scott, Godfrey, Jungers, Scott, Simons, Teaford, Ungar, & Walker, ), semicircular canal systems (Walker, Ryan, Silcox, Simons, & Spoor, ), hand and foot anatomy (Wunderlich, Simons, & Jungers, ; Jungers, Godfrey, Simons, & Chatrath, ; Hamrick, Simons, & Jungers, ; Jungers, Lemelin, Godfrey, Wunderlich, Burney, Simons, Chatrath, James, & Randria, ), vertebral anatomy (Shapiro, Seiffert, Godfrey, Jungers, Simons, & Randria, ), and field work adventures in Madagascar (Simons, Godfrey, Vuillaume‐Randriamanantena, Chatrath, & Gagnon, ; Simons, ; Simons et al, ).…”