LOCAL EXTINCTION PATTERNS AND THE DECLINE OF THE JAMAICAN PALEOGENE ECHINOID FAUNA

An analysis of the Jamaican Upper Oligocene echinoids, based on new co llections made from the Brown's Town Formation, has identified 12 spec ies, a diversity comparable with other Caribbean faunas of the same ag e and also with Eater Eocene faunas of Jamaica. While the main extinct ion of Caribbean echinoid taxa was apparently at (or before) the Termi nal Eocene Event, Jamaica's fauna underwent a reduction in species div ersity in the mid middle Eocene, coincident with the change in sedimen tation from the impure Yellow Limestone Group to the ''pure'' White Li mestone Supergroup. Although certain Yellow Limestone species persiste d into the tate Eocene, the Upper Oligocene fauna shows considerable t axonomic turnover.