Misinterpreting by localism: transposing European geology and tectonics onto Jamaica and the Antilles

Donovan, Stephen K.

doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2012.08.004

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 40 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This may easily lead to misconceptions in cases where a specific feature of a specific insular taxon is taken for a general pattern exhibited by many if not all insular mammalian taxa whereas in reality it is a unique feature of just 1 taxon. To infer a more general pattern from local or superficial similarities is prone to error (Donovan 2013). Such is the case, for example, with some studies on Homo floresiensis Brown et al, 2004(Brown et al 2004 where this hominid is put in a broader insular perspective: for example, van Heteren and de Vos (2008), Lyras et al (2009) and Meijer et al (2010), who compare the shifts in limb proportions as observed in H. floresiensis with those of a few insular artiodactyls, but not with other insular taxa and without paying much attention to the nature of the individual cases.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parallel patterns and trends in functional structures in extinct island mammals

Geer

2014

Integrative Zoology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Endemic mammalian species on islands are generally known to have followed a different evolutionary pathway than their mainland relatives. General patterns, such as body size trends, have been described regularly. However, most island mammal species are unique and each of them is adapted to a specific local niche as part of an equally specific ecological assemblage. Therefore, comparing island species across taxa, islands and time is inherently dangerous without understanding the adaptational value of the studied feature in the compared taxa and without taking the ecological setting of the taxa into account. In this contribution, general and recurring patterns are described per taxon. Some features, like body mass change and sturdy limbs, are relatively general, whereas most features, like bone fusions and change of orbital axis, occur only in a very few taxa. Some features are even contradictory, such as brain size and degree of hypsodonty, with each taxon having its own particular design. In conclusion, general patterns are more often than not just trends and need to be applied with caution.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parallel patterns and trends in functional structures in extinct island mammals

Geer

2014

Integrative Zoology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…80–81, 97) as being an affliction of some geologists, such as C.A. Matley, who envisaged the geological structure of Jamaica and the Caribbean to be analogous to that of North Wales (Donovan, ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%