Imagocnus

Abstract: This report summarizes the results of paleontological and geological investigations carried out during the 1990s at Domo de Zaza, a late Early Miocene vertebrate locality in southcentral Cuba. Paleontologically, the most important result of fieldwork at Zaza was the first discovery of terrestrial mammals of Tertiary age in Cuba. Three terrestrial mammal taxa are now known from this locality—a megalonychid sloth ( Imagocnus zazae), an isolobodontine capromyid rodent (Zazamys veronicae), and a platyrrhine primate (Paralouatta marianae, new species). In addition to these finds, a number of selachian, chelonian, crocodylian, cetacean, and sirenian remains have been recovered. Domo de Zaza is a low hill transected by a large artificial channel, the Canal de Zaza, whose walls provide an extensive exposure of Miocene sediments attributable to the Lagunitas Formation (Fm). This formation is laterally and vertically complex, showing evidence of at least four different depositional regimes. However, the sedimentary sequence indicates that all depositional phases took place within a broader episode of transgression. Estimated Burdigalian age (16.1‐21.5 Ma) for Lagunitas Fm is based on the presence of marine invertebrate taxa corresponding to the late Early Miocene Miogypsina‐Soritiidae zone. The overall transgressive 1 Contribution 5 to the series ‘‘Origin of the Antillean Land Mammal Fauna.’’