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Science 10 October 1986:
Vol. 234. no. 4773, pp. 208 - 209
DOI: 10.1126/science.234.4773.208
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Articles

Miocene Characid Fishes from Colombia: Evolutionary Stasis and Extirpation

JOHN G. LUNDBERG 1, ANTONIO MACHADO-ALLISON 2, and RICHARD F. KAY 3

1 Department of Zoology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27706.
2 Instituto de Zoologia Tropical, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Apartado 47058, Caracas, 1041-A, Venezuela.
3 Department of Anatomy, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27706.

Fossil fishes from the Miocene La Venta fauna of the Magdalena River Valley, Colombia, are identified as Colossoma macropomum (Characidae), a living species from the Orinoco and Amazon basins. The fossils document a long and conservative history for a species that is highly specialized for feeding on streamside plants. The phylogenetically advanced position of Colossoma in the subfamily Serrasalminae implies that six related genera and other higher characid taxa originated well before 15 million years ago. This discovery also corroborates neontological evidence for a vicariance event that contributed species from Miocene Orinoco-Amazon faunas to the original Magdalena region fauna. The fossils suggest a formerly diverse Magdalena fauna that has suffered local extinction, perhaps associated with late Cenozoic tectonism. This new evidence may help explain the depauperate nature of the modern Magdalena River.

Submitted on June 5, 1986
Accepted on August 22, 1986


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Cretaceous characiform fishes (Teleostei: Ostariophysi) from Northern Tethys: description of new material from the Maastrichtian of Provence (Southern France) and palaeobiogeographical implications.
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Geological Society, London, Special Publications 295, 155-164
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GOLIATH GROUPER (PISCES: SERRANIDAE) FROM THE UPPER MIOCENE URUMACO FORMATION, VENEZUELA.
(2004)
Journal of Paleontology 78, 1202-1206
Early to middle Tertiary foreland basin development and the history of Andean crustal shortening in Bolivia.
P. G. DeCelles and B. K. Horton (2003)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 115, 58-77
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