Quaternary vertebrate faunas from Sumba, Indonesia: implications for Wallacean biogeography and evolution.

ABSTRACT: Historical patterns of diversity, biogeography and faunal turnover remain poorly understood for Wallacea, the biologically and geologically complex island region between the Asian and Australian continental shelves. A distinctive Quaternary vertebrate fauna containing the small-bodied hominin Homo floresiensis, pygmy Stegodon proboscideans, varanids and giant murids has been described from Flores, but Quaternary faunas are poorly known from most other Lesser Sunda Islands. We report the discovery of extensive new fossil vertebrate collections from Pleistocene and Holocene deposits on Sumba, a large Wallacean island situated less than 50 km south of Flores. A fossil assemblage recovered from a Pleistocene deposit at Lewapaku in the interior highlands of Sumba, which may be close to 1 millio

SUBMITTER: Turvey ST 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5577490 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature