ABSTRACT
— The study of the geographical variation of Solenodon indicates that this Greater Antillean insectivore genus is represented by four species: two living, S. cubanus from Cuba and S. paradoxus from Hispaniola, and two extinct, S. marcanoi from Hispaniola and S. arredondoi from Cuba. A new geographical population of S. paradoxus from southern Hispaniola is described. The diagnosis of S. marcanoi is revised and specimens of the original type series are re-assigned to S. paradoxus. Solenodon marcanoi shares characters of both S. paradoxus and S. cubanus, and is considered an intermediate lineage. The two extinct species were restricted, respectively, to western Cuba and to southwestern Hispaniola. It is hypothesized that elucidation of both S. marcanoi relationships and southern Hispaniola paleogeographical reconstruction might hold a key role in the interpretation of the biogeographical history of Antillean insectivores.
The late Quaternary distribution of S. paradoxus in Hispaniola is insufficiently known. The discovery of new extant populations in the Dominican Republic is presented. Results of recent and previous field surveys indicate that the species is still widely dispersed in this country, but extant populations are fragmented in distribution and low in numbers. In Haiti, the species appears to survive only in the Massif de la Hotte, in the southwestern end of Peninsula of Tiburon. No single fossil or Recent records are yet known from northern Haiti, north of the Cul-de-Sac. Paleontological and archaeological evidence suggest that S. cubanus was well distributed throughout western and eastern Cuba. The species is now extirpated in the western and central portions of the island, and only survives in the eastern mountain areas.
