A unique and diverse albeit phylogenetically restricted mammal fauna[note 1] is known from the Caribbean region.
[1] The faunas of islands outside Koopman's Line are similar to those of the adjacent mainland, though usually smaller; in contrast, the region inside Koopman's Line harbors relatively few species shared with the mainland and many of its species belong to endemic genera, subfamilies, and even families.
Excluding bats, nearly 90% of the mammals of the Caribbean faunal region have gone extinct since the late Pleistocene,[2] including all the sloths and monkeys, the unique insectivore Nesophontes, two of four species of solenodon, and a variety of rodents including all giant hutias, leaving only a few hutia species extant.
[7] The large proportion of extinctions can be attributed to the isolated and therefore somewhat less competitive nature of the islands' ecosystems, and to the fact that carnivorans never colonized most of the region.
These factors made the islands' native fauna particularly vulnerable to disruption by humans[9] and the invasive species they introduced.
The large predator niches of the Caribbean islands were formerly occupied by endemic outsize hawks, falcons, caracaras, teratorns and owls, such as Titanohierax, Gigantohierax, Buteogallus borrasi, Caracara tellustris, Oscaravis olsoni, Ornimegalonyx and Tyto pollens - all of which are now extinct.
[14] The smaller Marmosa robinsoni is also known from Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada, and Roatán, but the classification of Central American populations of this species is unclear.
[23] The order Pilosa includes the sloths and anteaters, about ten species of which survive in Central and South America.
[28] The order Eulipotyphla includes the hedgehogs, gymnures, shrews, moles and desmans, as well as two families known only from the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands.
[31] They are not particularly closely related to the other Caribbean eulipotyphlan family, Nesophontidae; the two groups diverged more than 40 million years ago.
Six families—Phyllostomidae, Vespertilionidae, Molossidae, Natalidae, Mormoopidae, and Noctilionidae—are widespread in the Caribbean and three others—Furipteridae, Thyropteridae, and Emballonuridae—are restricted to islands close to the South and Central American mainland.
On Trinidad, the tayra (Eira barbara), the neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis), the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), and the crab-eating raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus) have been recorded.
[44][45] Similarly, remains of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) on Cuba have been described as separate genera and species, Cubacyon transversidens and Indocyon caribensis.
Artiodactyls include deer, antelope, cattle, pigs, camels, and related species, as well as whales and dolphins.
[54] Fossils of Hyrachyus, a primitive perissodactyl also present in Europe and North America with affinities to early tapirs and rhinos, are known from the Eocene of Jamaica.
[55] This species probably reached Jamaica on a block of Central America carried eastward by the motion of the Caribbean Plate.
Three species—Xenothrix mcgregori from Jamaica, as well as Antillothrix bernensis and Insulacebus toussaintiana, both from Hispaniola — are known from the Quaternary and became extinct relatively recently (with A. bernensis lasting until the 1500s), while two Cuban species more related to the howler monkeys, Paralouatta varonai, and Paraloutta marianae are known from Domo de Zaza, an early Miocene locality on Cuba.