340 Neogene paleontology in the northern Dominican Republic 14

The study of fossil otoliths has allowed us to reconstruct a teleost fauna of 84 species for the Neogene of the Cibao Valley area, northern Dominican Republic. Thirty-one of those could be attributed to nominal species and 53 are described in open nomenclature. Among the nominal species, 22 belong to Recent Central American species or very closely related species, and eight represent extinct species that are new. Many taxa could not be identified at the species level because the knowledge of otoliths of related Recent Central American species is too restricted. Although the bulk of the material comes from the late Miocene NN11 Zone, restricted associations from other levels allow us to draw some paleoenvironmental conclusions for most of the levels. 

In terms of both abundance in number of specimens and taxonomic diversity, the best-represented groups are ophidiids, haemulids, and sciaenids. These groups are also well-represented in Paleogene otolith associations of the U. S. Gulf Coast and in the Recent Caribbean fauna. Analysis of the available data provides evidence that near the Oligocene-Miocene boundary, important evolutionary events affected some of the groups of Caribbean teleosts, and that in the concerned groups, affinities of the Neogene forms are much closer to the Recent fauna than to the Paleogene one. A weak point in such a statement however, is our complete ignorance of Paleogene faunas for the southern Caribbean and eastern Pacific realm, because the possibility exists that in these areas relatives of "modern" Central American taxa already existed in the Paleogene.

Year published: 1992