South american mammals

@article{corbet1980splendid,
    author = "Corbet, Gordon B.",
    title = "Splendid Isolation: The Curious History of South American Mammals, by George Gaylord Simpson. Yale University Press, £11.",
    year = "1980",
    journal = "Oryx",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/s0030605300029379",
    doi = "10.1017/s0030605300029379",
    number = "5",
    pages = "512-512",
    volume = "15"
}

@book{simpson1980splendid1,
    author = "Simpson, G. G",
    title = "Splendid Isolation",
    year = "1980",
    publisher = "The Curious History of South American Mammals: New Haven, Connecticut, Ylae University Press",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Simpson, G. G., 1980, Splendid Isolation: The Curious History of South American Mammals: New Haven, Connecticut, Ylae University Press.}"
}

@article{vangelder1980evolution,
    author = "van Gelder, Richard G.",
    title = "Evolution of Neotropical Mammals Splendid Isolation: The Curious History of South American Mammals George Gaylord Simpson",
    year = "1980",
    journal = "BioScience",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.2307/1307975",
    doi = "10.2307/1307975",
    number = "8",
    pages = "540-540",
    volume = "30"
}

@article{keast1981splendid,
    author = "Keast, Allen",
    title = "Splendid Isolation: The Curious History of South American Mammals. George Gaylord Simpson",
    year = "1981",
    journal = "The Quarterly Review of Biology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1086/412128",
    doi = "10.1086/412128",
    number = "1",
    pages = "85-85",
    volume = "56"
}

@article{hershkovitz1984south,
    author = "Hershkovitz, Philip",
    title = "South American Mammals",
    year = "1984",
    journal = "Ecology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.2307/1937797",
    doi = "10.2307/1937797",
    number = "6",
    pages = "1944-1945",
    volume = "65"
}

@article{lomolino1995splendid,
    author = "Lomolino, M. V. and Channell, R.",
    title = "Splendid Isolation: Patterns of Geographic Range Collapse in Endangered Mammals",
    year = "1995",
    journal = "Journal of Mammalogy",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.2307/1382345",
    doi = "10.2307/1382345",
    number = "2",
    pages = "335-347",
    volume = "76"
}

@article{ricklefs2002splendid,
    author = "Ricklefs, Robert E.",
    title = "Splendid isolation: historical ecology of the South American passerine fauna",
    year = "2002",
    journal = "Journal of Avian Biology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-048x.2002.330301.x",
    doi = "10.1034/j.1600-048x.2002.330301.x",
    number = "3",
    pages = "207-211",
    volume = "33"
}

The geological record of South American mammals is spatially biased because productive fossil sites are concentrated at high latitudes. As a result, the history of mammalian diversification in Amazonia and other tropical biomes is largely unknown. Here we report diversification analyses based on a time-calibrated molecular phylogeny of opossums (Didelphidae), a species-rich clade of mostly tropical marsupials descended from a Late Oligocene common ancestor. Optimizations of habitat and geography on this phylogeny suggest that (1) basal didelphid lineages inhabited South American moist forests; (2) didelphids did not diversify in dry-forest habitats until the Late Miocene; and (3) most didelphid lineages did not enter North America until the Pliocene. We also summarize evidence for an Early- to Middle-Miocene mass extinction event, for which alternative causal explanations are discussed. To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first published molecular-phylogenetic evidence for mass extinction in any animal clade, and it is the first time that evidence for such an event (in any plant or animal taxon) has been tested for statistical significance. Potentially falsifying observations that could help discriminate between the proposed alternative explanations for didelphid mass extinction may be obtainable from diversification analyses of other sympatric mammalian groups.

@article{doi101111evo12290,
    author = "Jansa, Sharon A and Barker, F Keith and Voss, Robert S",
    title = {The early diversification history of didelphid marsupials: a window into South America's "Splendid Isolation".},
    year = "2014",
    journal = "Evolution; international journal of organic evolution",
    abstract = "The geological record of South American mammals is spatially biased because productive fossil sites are concentrated at high latitudes. As a result, the history of mammalian diversification in Amazonia and other tropical biomes is largely unknown. Here we report diversification analyses based on a time-calibrated molecular phylogeny of opossums (Didelphidae), a species-rich clade of mostly tropical marsupials descended from a Late Oligocene common ancestor. Optimizations of habitat and geography on this phylogeny suggest that (1) basal didelphid lineages inhabited South American moist forests; (2) didelphids did not diversify in dry-forest habitats until the Late Miocene; and (3) most didelphid lineages did not enter North America until the Pliocene. We also summarize evidence for an Early- to Middle-Miocene mass extinction event, for which alternative causal explanations are discussed. To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first published molecular-phylogenetic evidence for mass extinction in any animal clade, and it is the first time that evidence for such an event (in any plant or animal taxon) has been tested for statistical significance. Potentially falsifying observations that could help discriminate between the proposed alternative explanations for didelphid mass extinction may be obtainable from diversification analyses of other sympatric mammalian groups.",
    url = "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24125654/",
    doi = "10.1111/evo.12290",
    pmid = "24125654"
}

@article{erkens2015the,
    author = "Erkens, Roy H.J.",
    title = "The less-splendid isolation of the South American continent",
    year = "2015",
    journal = "Frontiers of Biogeography",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.21425/f5fbg28193",
    doi = "10.21425/f5fbg28193",
    number = "3",
    volume = "7"
}

@incollection{crossref2017splendid,
    title = "Splendid isolation",
    year = "2017",
    booktitle = "Splendid Isolation",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv35r3vp1.7",
    doi = "10.2307/j.ctv35r3vp1.7",
    pages = "15-32"
}

Biodiversity dynamics following encounters between long-isolated faunas provide natural experiments to examine how diversity dependence and ecological interactions shape diversification patterns at macroevolutionary time scales. The Cenozoic arrival of African and North American mammals in South America likely had transformative effects on one of the most unique and previously isolated continental faunas. However, the extent and persistence of these effects remain debated. Here, we assess the impact of immigrant mammal groups on native South American mammal diversity by combining an extensive fossil dataset (6,214 occurrences; 1,739 species) with deep learning methods and time-series analyses to model dynamics of mammalian biodiversity throughout the Cenozoic. The arrival of African and North American lineages increased the overall species richness in the continent but also contributed to a decline in native diversity. Additionally, our models suggest that the negative effect of immigrant lineages on native diversity was strongest immediately after their arrival and initial diversification, but this effect lessened over time. Overall, these findings support a scenario where immigration simultaneously enriched South American faunas and triggered a time-decaying replacement of native lineages, reshaping continental biodiversity.

@misc{pino2025splendid,
    author = "Pino, Kateryn and Rodriguez-Serrano, Enrique and Carrillo, Juan D. and Cooper, Rebecca B. and Silvestro, Daniele",
    title = "Splendid isolation with migration: Diversity dynamics of South American mammals",
    year = "2025",
    abstract = "Biodiversity dynamics following encounters between long-isolated faunas provide natural experiments to examine how diversity dependence and ecological interactions shape diversification patterns at macroevolutionary time scales. The Cenozoic arrival of African and North American mammals in South America likely had transformative effects on one of the most unique and previously isolated continental faunas. However, the extent and persistence of these effects remain debated. Here, we assess the impact of immigrant mammal groups on native South American mammal diversity by combining an extensive fossil dataset (6,214 occurrences; 1,739 species) with deep learning methods and time-series analyses to model dynamics of mammalian biodiversity throughout the Cenozoic. The arrival of African and North American lineages increased the overall species richness in the continent but also contributed to a decline in native diversity. Additionally, our models suggest that the negative effect of immigrant lineages on native diversity was strongest immediately after their arrival and initial diversification, but this effect lessened over time. Overall, these findings support a scenario where immigration simultaneously enriched South American faunas and triggered a time-decaying replacement of native lineages, reshaping continental biodiversity.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.11.28.691169",
    doi = "10.1101/2025.11.28.691169"
}