Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, SOLENODON PARADOXUS, ALLEN 1910

/IDemoirs of tbe /IDuseum of Comparative Eoologv AT HARVARD COLLEGE Vol XL No SOLENODON PARADOXUS GLOVER M ALLEN With Nine Plates CAMBRIDGE, lPrinte& for tbe U S A.: /Duseum June, 1910 Memoirs of tbe /IDuseum of AT Comparative Zooloos HARVARD COLLEGE Vol XL No I SOLENODON PARADOXUS GLOVER M ALLEN With Nine Plates CAMBRIDGE, Iprtnte5 for tbe U S A.: Museum June, 1910 CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION HISTORY HABITS EXTERNAL APPEARANCE S Color 10 External measurements 12 Cranl\l measurements 14 superficial body muscles musclp:s of head and neck muscles of muscles of MUSCLES OF MUSCLES OF OS1T.OLOGY the the THE THE trunk FORE LIMB HIND LIMB TAIL 14 15 19 21 25 32 33 VISCERAL ANATOMY Digestive system 43 43 Glands 40 Mesenteries 47 Lungs Heart and 48 its vessels Excretory and genital organs BRAIN PLEXUSES 48 48 49 LITERATURE EXPLANATION OF PLATES 54 SUMMARY 50 51 SOLENODON PARADOXUS INTRODUCTION The Museum has recently been fortunate in securing from San Domingo, a series of specimens of the rare Solcnodon paradoxus Brandt Four of these were brought ahve, and were successfully photographed by Mr George Nelson The more interesting of the photographs were reproduced with the Annual Report of the Curator of the general for anatomy For the loan of States National its The present paper is a comjiarative account the species, made possible by this fresh material 1907 08 of specimens of Solcnodon cuhanus thanks are due the United Museum HISTORY The brief history of this species now well known was It originally Brandt from a skin and an imperfect skull, in the Petersburg Academy, fmm Haiti This specimen was subsequently studied described in 1833 by St is J F by Peters in connection witli the Cuban species, described by him in 1864 Leche states that he too, made use of this skull and other fragments of the skeleton, when Insectivora the text species, who it in 1907 he ])ublished his extensive j^aper The exact nature appears that a of the other fragments jx'lvis not stated but from with the sacral vertebrae labeled as of this was among the material studied These bones were figured by Leche called attention to the remarkable characters with those of other Insectivora is on the teeth of the shown by them There can be no doubt, as will in comparison be shown later, that the pelvic and sacral bones figured are not those of Solcnodon the labors of Peters and Dobson, the well known more than twenty anatomy of Through Solcnodon cubanus was fairly years ago, but no additional specimens of S SOLENODON PARADOXUS paradoxus wore discovered until 1907, when A Hyatt Verrill secured an adult male, an adult female, and a young individual still retaining its milk dentition Of these specimens Dr J A Allen (:08) has given a brief account The skulls and dentition are well figured by him and critical comparison is made with skulls of S cubanus mens was too poor by The preservation few facts he was able to glean as to these animals in San Domingo fill A to admit of fiu'ther detailed study, however Verrill (:07) recounts the partially to of the skin antl soft parts of the speci- The ])resent account will, it is l)rief tlie pa])er habils of hoped, serve the hiatus existing in our knowledge of the general anatomy of the species Specimens of the Cuban Solenodon, were made known l)y Poey in 1834, through a communication to a Havana paper, "El plantel." Later, in 1851, he gave a more detailed notice of the animal, with a colored plate, in his "Mem- Cuba." Poey obtained specimens from the mountainous regions east of Bayamo, Cuba, where the animal was This author reviews at some length the early accounts said to be well known orias sobre la historia natural de la isla de Cuban animals, and after an exhaustive search, fails to find any evidence that it was known to the early historians of the country Since he was unable to attach to it any of the native names of animals mentioned by of the native these writers, he proposed to call it the Almiqui, a name derived from that of department of Cuba near where his specimens were taken He supposed the Cuban animal to be conspecific with that Gundlach subsequently obtained examples from of Haiti and San Domingo one of the mountains in the eastern the Sierra Maestra, but Ramon de la Sagra's statement that region of Trinidad, Cuba, Poey takes pains to show, latter's is it occurs in the based solely on the note in "El plantel" concerning vague rejwrts of an animal in that region whose identity could not be certainly establislietl According to A H Verrill (:07, p 56), the natives of San Domingo have various names for Solenodon paradoxus, as Orso (bear), Hormigero (ant-eater), Juron (ferret) "also applied to the mongoose," and Milqui In his mammals of Middle America and the West Indies Elliot gives name " Agouta," whose origin I have been unable to discover it list of the a vernacular HABITS HABITS Of the habits According to of this species in Verrill's ( :07) account holes in the coral limestone rocks leaves its retreat and comes forth a wild state very Uttle definitely known it is "nocturnal, and spends the day in caves, and in hollow trees to feed, "rooting in grounds, tearing rotten logs and trees to pieces with its At night it the earth and cultivated and On logs." powerful front claws, and feeding on ants, grubs, insects, vegetables, reptiles, and proving destructive to poultry is several occasions it and at times fruit, known has been to enter the houses in search of roaches and other vermin, and has been captured Mr Verrill's wasli drawing shows the animal with in rat-traps." around at the side of the body, and Museum of Natural History for tiie tail is, In tail itself its ;xs Tlie tip alone its movements is are almost held straight out slightly elevated at the tip to permit seems capable of serves very effectively as a support then throws Such a posture stiffness admits of but living animals the tail tlie somewhat depressed, but clear the ground the American in prepared in a similar manner and the muscle masses actuating wholly dorsal and ventral behind, mounted specimen liowever, proliably never assumed, slight lateral flexure, The is tlie when slight lateral the animal is back, with the soles of the hind feet resting their In feeding, the animals walk clumsily about with a and there at the objects that come stiff it to movement eating full on the ground, and the powerful tail acting as a third leg of a tripod position one or both of the fore feet can be lifted from the ground sniffing here bent tail It length In this wadtlling gait, The in their path toes only are in contact with the ground as they walk, while the metatarsals are quite clear They eat greedily of chopped meat, and will take lettuce as well by Meat they give considerable mastication, opening the jaws widely as they chew That they are capable of very quick movements, in spite of their apparent clumsiness, is seen when two or three are eating together way of variety and disagree as to the possession of some morsel of food If rob another, like a flash the possessor of the dainty throws away from one attempts to its body around Often one the pursuer and continues chewing greedily will seize companion by the snout, and if wickedly inclined can bite severely Usually, however, they seem peaceful enough Rarely a shrill cry is uttered, as Mr its George Nelson At other They tells me, who has heard it while tending the captive specimens times, they constantly give an explosive sniff as are mainly active at night or in the late afternoon, if clearing the nose and seem to dig over SOLENODON PARADOXUS and under every movable article in the cage They have a prunounced odur, not disagreeable, and reminding one slightly of that of a goat or a porcupine, j^et characteristically different Verrill states that a female in his possession One which, however, she promptly devoured ing to the Museum was found still The closed to clothe the body of mammae the first If young in captivity, but in this must have others were born, they too This young one when jirobably a day or so old had the eyes been devoured and ears of the females in the lot belong- likewise brought forth her case h)ut a single one gave birth to three young, to appear, although not sufficiently was beginning hair was a female (Plate It well developed upper and the two It l, fig and had the 1) lived but three days, at the end single pair which time of lower incisors were erupted, but the eyes and first the ears were as yet unopened EXTERNAL APPEARANCE In general form Solenodon head and a stout The tail is shrew-like, with a long tapering snout, elongate feet and limbs are not notably modified, though The the fore claws are greatly developed beyond the nasal bones is is the snout a striking peculiarity, shared, however, to some extent by the African genera Macroscelides and Rhjiichocyon in Solenodon paradoxus of great development cartilaginous, and This proboscis consists of a long tube, quadrangular and deeper than wide The nasal septum divides the cavity of the proboscis and is continued into the nasal chamber; a projecting ridge on each side of the septum, partly divides tlie lumen of the proboscis into a in section (Plate dorsal 2) 5, fig and a ventral tube At its proximal end the proboscis ported by a small round bone, the os proboscidis, and laterally by connective held in place tissue cartilage The ti]) of the snout has a naked i-liinariiun about a centi- whose posterior border is ill defined dorsally just posbut below it is sharply marked off from the surrounding meter in length ventrally tei'ior to the nostrils, haired surfaces by a slight groove of the A median snout which here incisors to the tijj open and are somewhat crescentiform laterally vontrally sup- it is on each side from the upper free edges of the These cartilages are loosely bound to th(> sides of the jiroboscis by a short triangular premaxillaries is is groo\'e runs from the upper slightly cmarginate The The nostrils sides of the snout are supplied with about a dozen large vibrissae, the longest of which measure about 65 mm There are in addition shorter hairs from swollen bases, that are coarser PLATE Fig — Muscles iiii-ilius; (if ri^lit, liinil I'ctal \cg,, iiiaximus; asprct ii ghiti'iis ininirniis; K