New fossil cetaceans from the Middle Miocene of Cuba

Remains of cetaceans, particularly odontocetes, are scarce in the Cuban fossil record. Here we describe the second odontocete (toothed whale) record from the Neogene of Cuba and extends the temporal distribution of this group in the Insular Caribbean into the Middle Miocene. This account is based on two isolated teeth found in limestones of the Guines Formation that crop out in a quarry near the town of Guanabana, Matanzas City, northwestern Cuba. The specimens are referred to the superfamily Physeteroidea incertae sedis. These findings, along with other fossils recovered from other Early and Middle Miocene localities in the region support the hypothesis of a complex, diverse marine vertebrate fauna on the formerly called "Habana-Matanzas channel" and circum-Cuban waters during the Neogene.