Cayman nesophontes

Cayman nesophontes[1] Temporal range: Late Pleistocene-Holocene
Conservation status
Extinct (c.1632-1774)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Eulipotyphla
Family:	†Nesophontidae
Genus:	†Nesophontes
Species:	†N. hemincingulus
Binomial name
†Nesophontes hemincingulus Morgan et al., 2019

The Cayman nesophontes (Nespohontes hemicingulus) is an extinct eulipotyphlan of the genus Nesophontes that was once endemic to the Cayman Islands (Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac); the animal lived in the island montane forest/brush endemic to the Cayman Islands and was an insectivore.^[2] It is known from subfossil remains, that bear bite marks attributed to crocodiles, collected from caves, sinkholes and peat deposits on the Islands between the 1930s and the 1990s. It was named in 2019.^[3][4]

Extinction

It is believed that the animal was never observed by Europeans. Contemporary fossils with indigenous artifacts and introduced rat fossils indicate survival into the colonial era, possibly until the 16th century. It disappeared after introduction of rats (starting from May 10, 1503, AD with the arrival of Christopher Columbus at the Cayman Islands) and due to the destruction of its forest habitat, although this species may have survived until around 1774 AD.^[3] Using analysis of existing and new radiometric dates (of which the existing dates mainly point towards an extinction date of pre-1600 AD for the Nesophontes genus as a whole), an estimated extinction date of 1700 AD (95% confidence interval = 1632–1774 AD) was estimated for N. hemicingulus in 2019.^[3]

References

1. Hutterer, R. (2005). "Order Soricomorpha". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
2. "Three new mammal species discovered in Cayman Islands after bones found inside crocodiles". The Independent. 2019-03-05. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
3. Gary S. Morgan; Ross D.E. Macphee; Roseina Woods; Samuel T. Turvey (2019). "Late Quaternary fossil mammals from the Cayman Islands, West Indies". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 2019 (428): 1–82. doi:10.1206/0003-0090.428.1.1. hdl:2246/6928. S2CID 92503421.
4. "Nesophontes hemicingulus". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. 1.5. American Society of Mammalogists. Retrieved 10 September 2021.