ABSTRACT
— The origin of the endemic Antillean insectivorans Solenodon and Nesophontes has been a subject of considerable debate. We evaluate the main biogeographical hypotheses that have been proposed for these taxa in the light of recent phylogenetic, paleontological, and geological evidence. Recent phylogenetic analyses conflict with one another in many ways, but they provide little support for origin from a North American soricid ancestor. At least four hypotheses appear viable: origin by (1) overwater dispersal of a species related to some early Tertiary North American insectivoran (such as Apternodus or Centetodon); (2) vicariance of an early Tertiary North American insectivoran on a Western Jamaica Block, with subsequent overwater dispersal to the other islands of the Greater Antilles; (3) dispersal of a Gondwanan zalambdodont insectivoran directly from Africa to the Greater Antilles; and (4) dispersal of a Gondwanan zalambdodont insectivoran across a GAARlandia land span from northwestern South America, with subsequent vicariance as GAARlandia broke up. The relationship between Solenodon and Nesophontes is unclear, and it is possible that their distributions in the Greater Antilles are the results of different mechanisms.
