PRE-GABI BIOTIC CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE AMERICAS: AN ALTERNATIVE MODEL TO EXPLAIN THE ?LESS-SPLENDID ISOLATION? OF SOUTH AMERICA

LUCERO, SERGIO; AGNOLIN, FEDERICO; CHIMENTO, NICOLAS R.

Revista Geológica de América Central

Universidad de Costa Rica

Año: 2019 vol. 61 p. 91 - 106

0256-7024

: Traditionally, South America was considered as an island continent during most of the Tertiary. However, sparse paleontological and biological evidence indicates that a biotic interchange between North and South Americamay have been occurred by pre-Pliocene times. Nevertheless, the geological evidence suggesting Miocene closure ofthe Isthmus is still wanting, and this constitutes an important inconsistency between biological and geological data.With the aim to explain the population of Caribbean islands by terrestrial fauna and flora, several authors proposed thatbetween Eocene and Oligocene times there existed an above-water land span between South America and these islands,currently known as GAARlandia. If this is the case, there must have been biotic interchanges between the Americasand Caribbean islands in a narrow time window. This new hypothesis has deep implications for the understanding ofthe early phases of the biotic interchange between the Americas by pre-Pliocene times