Abstract

We document fossils of cichlid fishes from Costa Rica, the first fossil record of cichlids in Central America. These fossils are from shallow marine strata of Late Miocene age at the Proyecto Hidroeléctrico Reventazón and lake deposits of Middle Pleistocene age at San Miguel de Turrúcares. The occurrence of a Late Miocene cichlid in marine sediments in Costa Rica indicates a likely marine dispersal of cichlids from South America to Central America, and it also fits with the idea that cichlids crossed shallow marine waters during the Miocene to achieve their current distribution. The freshwater Middle Pleistocene cichlid fossils from San Miguel de Turrúcares indicate that, at least by the Middle Pleistocene, cichlids inhabited freshwater habitats in Costa Rica, as they now do across much of Central America.

Keywords: Cichlidae; fishes; Costa Rica; Miocene; Pleistocene; paleobiogeography