Presettlement Magnolia-Beech Climax of the Gulf Coastal Plain: Quantitative Evidence From the Apalachicola River Bluffs, North-Central Florida

Ecology ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 1085-1093 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hazel R. Delcourt ◽  
Paul A. Delcourt

2015 ◽  
Vol 89 (5) ◽  
pp. 821-844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason R. Bourque

AbstractKinosternonSpix, 1824, was widespread in xeric to savanna associated paleowetlands across North America during the middle–late Miocene and steadily diversified following its first occurrences in the Hemingfordian. In the middle Miocene,Kinosternon rinconn. sp. occurred in the late Barstovian Cerro Conejo Formation of north central New Mexico, perhaps concurrently withKinosternon pojoaqueBourque 2012a from the Tesuque Formation. Subsequent late Miocene kinosternine fossils indicate that at least three potentially contemporaneous species existed throughout the Clarendonian. These areKinosternon pannekollopsn. sp., from the Ogallala Formation of northern Texas;Kinosternon wakeeniense, n. sp., from the Ogallala Formation of northwestern Kansas and Ash Hollow Formation of south-central Nebraska; andKinosternon notolophusn. sp., from the Alachua and Statenville formations of northern Florida.Kinosternon rinconis phylogenetically nested between theKinosternon flavescens(Agassiz, 1857) group (=PlatythyraAgassiz, 1857) and more derivedKinosternonincluding theKinosternon subrubrum(Lacépède, 1788) group (=ThyrosternumAgassiz, 1857).Kinosternon pannekollopsis recovered on the stem of theK.subrubrumgroup and is the oldest and largest member of that lineage.Kinosternon notolophusis readily differentiated from other MioceneKinosternonin possessing a distinct dorsomedial keel on the nuchal and faint dorsolateral costal carination. TheK.subrubrumgroup probably originated in the late Miocene savannas of the Great Plains and dispersed eastward via the Gulf Coastal Plain. An unnamed kinosternine taxon existed in the coastal plains of the eastern and southeastern United States during the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (with fossils from ~18 to 15 Ma), and disappeared from the region coincident with the end of that megathermal event.



Paleobiology ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald R. Prothero ◽  
Paul C. Sereno

Barstovian (medial Miocene) mammalian faunas from the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain contained four apparently sympatric species of rhinoceroses: the common forms Aphelops megalodus and Teleoceras medicornutus, a dwarf Teleoceras, and a dwarf Peraceras. Previous work has suggested positive allometry in tooth area with respect to body size in several groups of mammals, i.e., larger mammals have relatively more tooth area. However, dwarfing lineages were shown to have relatively more tooth area for their body size. Our data show no significant allometry in post-canine tooth area of either artiodactyls or ceratomorphs. Similarly, dwarf rhinoceroses and hippopotami show no more tooth area than would be predicted for their size. Limbs are proportionately longer and more robust in larger living ceratomorphs (rhinos and tapirs) than predicted by previous authors. Limb proportions of both dwarf rhinoceroses and dwarf hippopotami are even more robust than in their living relatives.The high rhinoceros diversity reflects the overall high diversity of Barstovian faunas from the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain. The first appearance of several High Plains mammals in these faunas indicates “ecotone”-like conditions as faunal composition changed. Study of living continental dwarfs shows that there is commonly an ecological separation between browsing forest dwarfs and their larger forebears, which are frequently savannah grazers. This suggests that the dwarf rhinoceroses might have been forest browsers which were sympatric with the larger grazing rhinos of the High Plains during the Barstovian invasion. The continental dwarf model also suggests that insular dwarfism may be explained by the browsing food resources that predominate on islands.





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