Floridas Fossil Mammals

STATE OF FLORIDASTATE BOARD OF CONSERVATION

Ernest Mitts, Director

FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEYRobert 0. Vernon, Director

SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 6

FOSSIL MAMMALS OF FLORIDA

ByStanley J. Olsen

Tallahassee, Florida1959

(Corrected copy)

Third printing - June 16,' 1963

Printed by the Florida Geological Survey

TABLE OF CONTENTSPage

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Florida's olde st vertebrate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Fossilization and the study of fossils ............. 5

How fossils are formed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Paleontology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Collecting and identification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

The age of mammals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Eocene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Oligocene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Miocene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Mio-Pliocene. . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Pleistocene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Pleistocene or R e c e n t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Directions to vertebrate fossil localities . . . . . . . . . . 74

ILLUSTRATIONS

PlateI "Why there are no dinosaurs in Florida. . . . . . . 6II Common vertebrate fossils found in Florida. . 8III Common vertebrate fossils found in Florida. . 10IV Dating fossils by carbon 14 method. . . . . . . . . . 14V Eocene whale Basilosaurus or "Zeuglodon" . . 20VI Miocene horse Parahippus and dog-like carni-

vore Tomarctus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30VII Pliocene four-tusked mastodon Serridentinus

and aquatic rhinoceros Teleoceras . . . . . . . . . . 38VIII Pleistocene mammoth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46IX Pleistocene mastodon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48X Florida saber-tooth tiger and Pleistocene

hor se s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50XI Giant sloth Megatherium and Glyptodont . . . . . 52XII Pleistocene camel Tanupolama and wolf

Aenocyon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54XIII Reintroduction of the horse into North America

by the Spaniards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58XIV Pleistocene Vero man and cave bear Tre-

marctos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

iii

Text figure

1 Geologic p e r i o d s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 African big game herd, similar to herds of

animals occurring in Florida during thePleistocene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3 Map of Eocene localities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Age correlation chart of Florida Eocene with

that of North American provincial, stages ... 235 Map of Oligocene locality. ................ 256 Map of Miocene localities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Age correlation chart of Florida Miocene with

that of North American provincial stages .. . 348 Map of Pliocene localities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 Phosphate mining operations using 25-yard

dragline bucket and hydraulic sump pit gun. . 4110 Age correlation chart of Florida Pliocene with

that of North American provincial stages . . . 4211 Map of better known Pleistocene localities. . 4512 Age correlation chart of Florida Pleistocene

with that of North American provincial stages 6413 Aqua lung prospecting and collecting . . . . . . . 71

IV

FOSSIL MAMMALS OF FLORIDA

ByStanley J. Olsen

INTRODUCTION

In 1928 Dr. G. G. Simpson's account of "The ExtinctLand Mammals of Florida" was published as a part of theTwentieth Annual Report of the Florida Geological Survey.This report has proven to be one of the most popular andwidely circulated of all the publications issued bythe FloridaGeological Survey. Due to the tremendous demand, over thepast three decades, this report has gone out of print. How-ever, recent requests and inquiries pertaining to this typeof account have indicated that a publication similar to Simp-son's is now required to fill this growing need for informationconcerning Florida's first inhabitants.

To simply reprint Simpson's excellent original workwould not be enough as many new localities and their verte-brate forms have been discovered and described subsequentto his research and these must be included if an up-to-dateaccount is to be compiled. Several of Florida's classicvertebrate localities (i. e. , Thomas Farm Miocene quarryand Itchtucknee River Pleistocene deposit) have been discov-ered and recorded in detail during the time that has elapsedsince the Twentieth Annual Report was first circulated.

In order that this may be regarded as a wholly newwork, all of the illustrations have been designed and executedfor this paper in original form. These excellent and accu-rately detailed drawings are the productions of Andrew Jan-son, Scientific Artist for the Florida Geological Survey, andin some cases situations for these drawings were taken fromthe published illustrations of Charles Knight and Robert B.

2 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Horsefall, artists whose works need no further comment,Full credit for the original layouts is here acknowledged tothese two master artists of North America's past prehistoriclife. The detailed faunal lists are due to the careful work ofClaytonRayof Harvard University's Museum of ComparativeZoology.

To give a complete bibliography or to refer to allpublications that give detailed citations of Florida fossils isnot the purpose of this account. Those readers who requirematerial of this nature are referred to the more completebibliography contained in Florida Geological Survey SpecialPublication No. 3, "A List, Bibliography and Index of theFossil Vertebrates of Florida. "

The occurrences of fossil vertebrates in Florida areso numerous and scattered that it has never been possiblefor one worker to study or even examine all of the knownmaterials. Under these circumstances, the published identi-fications are undoubtedly less comparable than if they wereall made by one student; however, they have been accepted(with some changes in nomenclature) except where personalknowledge or unpublished notes has permitted a few correc-tions. The classification used by Simpson1 is generallyaccepted by students of past mammalian life and has been thebasis for the classification used throughout this summary.I also wish to acknowledge and give credit to Dr. G. G.Simpsonfor those portions of his writings that are used in thisreport.

The great difficulty in the deciphering of these faunasis inherent in the geologic conditions which prevail in Florida.None of the fully exposed sections as seen in the westernUnited States, where the faunal sequence is frequently soclearly displayed, occur in the low-lying peninsular State.The fossils have usually been found in mining, dredging,realigning roadcuts or other operations which disturb the

Simpson, G. G. , 1945, The Principles of Classifica-tion and a Classification of Mammals: Am. Mus. Nat. HistoryBull. , v. 85, p. 1-350.

SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 6 3

original deposit and usually damage any articulated animalremains that they may contain. Field records, particularlythose relating to stratigraphy, were usually quite inexact ornonexistent in the earlier days of collecting so that somelocality records have not been carried over from earlierpublications which cite localities and faunas falling into thiscategory. Many of the fossils were collected from streamdeposits which were from eroded beds of several differentages and these mingled remains were redepositedinto a singlebed from which the collections were taken and in a few casesseveral different age determinations were given to the samestrata, depending on which fauna was being interpreted.Luckily, there are good test faunas now known and these havebeen collected from areas where they occur under conditionsand in sucha way as to afford reasonable assurance that theywere actually contemporaneous and lived in the same region.Faunas occurring or collected under conditions which couldreadily give rise to mixture can then be checked by compar-ison of their species with those of the test faunas.

It wouldbe nearly impossible to give all of the localitiesin which vertebrate remains occur, particularly those of thePleistocene, so that the maps referring to localities of differ-ent ages list only the better known areas and particularly thosefrom which more than just an isolated specimen has beencollected.

FLORIDA'S OLDEST VERTEBRATE

Although this contribution is primarily concerned withFlorida's past mammal life, enough interest has been shownin regard to the occurrence of dinosaurs in Florida to war rantan explanation of why their remains are not present in theSunshine State.

Vertebrate remains are known to have existed on theearth as far back as the Ordovician period. However, onlythe Cenozoic, or Age of Mammals, is represented in thesurface outcrops thatoccur within the boundaries of the State(text fig. 1). Dinosaur bones occur in sediments as old asthe Triassic period, but these interesting reptiles becameextinctat the close of the Cretaceous, some 80 million years


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EOCENE60 MILLION YEARS AGC

PALEOCENE80 MILLION YEARS AGO

CRETACEOUS120 MILLION YEARS AGO

JURASSIC155 MILLION YEARS AGO

TRIASSIC190 MILLION YEARS AGO

PERMIAN215 MILLION YEARS AGO

PENNSYLVANIAN250 MILLION

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ago. In order to come in contact with beds of an age thatmight produce dinosaur bones, it is necessary in Floridato drill down through the earth's crust to a depth of severalthousand feet (pi. I). The closest surface outcrop to Florida,of Cretaceous age, from which dinosaurs have been recov-ered, is from near Selma, Alabama, and Tupelo, Mississippi.This area is about 100 air miles from the North Floridaborder.

Florida's oldest vertebrate was recovered during thesummer of 1955 by the Amerada Petroleum Corporation,during the course of drilling operations near Lake Okee-chobee. A well core, containing a partial skeleton of anaquatic turtle was brought up from a depth of 9,210 feet fromthe Glen Rose formation of the early Cretaceous. The explo-ration hole just happened to be in a position to penetrate thespot in which the remains of a fossil turtle were embedded.It is possible, but not very probable, that dinosaur remains,teeth or partial vertebrae, could be recovered from Creta-ceous beds in Florida under similar conditions.

FOSSILIZATION AND THE STUDY OF FOSSILS

How Fossils Are Formed

In very simple words, a fossil is anything of organicorigin which has been preserved in the earth's crust bynatural causes. (Organisms which have been buried in theearth during historic times are usually not included in thiscategory.) Some strata, as coal or limestone, are made upwholly of fossils, but are popularly termed "rocks" ratherthan fossils. Fossils are found in various states of preser-vation, from those such as the Mammoth of Siberia, whichretains most of the original flesh, skin, hair and bones, tomere tracks which retain no part of the animal itself. Somefossils have been turned to stone, or petrified; many othersare preserved, without any change other than the loss of softtissues. Except under the most unusual conditions, as inthe natural cold storage of the far north, or preservation inamber (fossil gum), the soft tissues decay leaving only thebones, teeth and hard parts behind to fossilize.


Plate I. Why there are no dinosaurs in Florida.

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Plate II. Cornrr.on vertebrate fossils found in Florida.

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Plate III. Common vertebrate fossils found in Florida.

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Most of the remains of fossil animals which are foundin Florida, are petrified. That is to say, the structure oforiginal bones or teeth have been completely replaced bymineral substances. This mineral replacement or substi-tution has been effected molecule by molecule, over a greatperiod of time, usually by mineral matter that is carried insolution by the waters covering the entombed animal. Onlythe smallest percentage of all the animals that die are everfossilized (pi. II, III). Ideal conditions must exist for theseanimals to be preserved or mineralized as we find themtoday. The body must be covered with silt or sand almostimmediately upon dying so that rapid decay or scattering bypredatory animals or the elements will not destroy the re-mains before they begin their fossilization. Percolatingwaters, carrying the mineral matter plus heat and pressureof the overlying segments over a long span of time, will thendo their workto preserve these animals in the same skeletalform that they exhibited when they were first covered by theflood-borne silts.

The important thing to remember is that vertebratefossils truly represent life. They are not just dry bonesbutare animals that ate, drank, fought, andreproduced muchin the same manner as similar animals are doing today. Bythe form of the teeth and bones these remains can be inter-preted, analyzed and compared with animals that are familiarto all of us as inhabitants of the present day world. A personwho studies and interprets the remains of animals of the pastis called a paleontologist. In order that he may do an accurateand thorough job, the paleontologist must possess a workingknowledge of anatomy, physiology, and the ecology of livinganimals, as well as an understanding of the geology of thearea in which he is working. Much of the interpretation ofvertebrate fossil remains is gained by a study of the teeth.This is due in part to the fact that these structures are denseandhardandare more likelytobe preservedthanarethe morespongy parts of the ribs, vertebrae and long bones of the skel-eton. Also, the teeth of an animal are adapted to the diet ofthe animal sothat a true herbivore or "plant eater" is rarelymisidentified for a carnivore or "meat eater" when such anidentification is based on the dentition. It is not true that anentire animal c'an be reconstructed from a single bone. Itis true that a pretty fair knowledge of an animal's form, and


hence his habits, can be gained from very little in the wayof actual remains, but almost never is an animal's skeletonrestored for museum exhibition unless the skeletal remainsof the animal are well represented. Usually when an individualanimal has the mis sing parts of its skeleton restored in plas-ter, the measurements and form of these restored parts weretaken from another individual in which these bones werecompletely known.

The age of the various strata, in which animal remainsare found, can be interpreted from evidence based on therate at which radioactive minerals undergo chemical changesthat can be detected and measured as to the amount of changethat has taken place since these minerals became a part ofthe strata which is being dated (pi. 4).

Paleontology

Why devote time, energy and money to a science thatis as far removed from our everyday world as is the studyof fossils? In these days of great world-shaking events, whyconcern ourselves with the remains of animals of anotherage? These are questions commonly asked a paleontologist.In our modern world of economic problems and threats ofatomic war, the study of fossils seems distantly removedfrom the realities of everyday life, and it is true that muchof paleontology has little bearing on direct economy. Paleon-tology is a cultural science, one of the few "pure" fields ofscience today which is not primarily concerned with an eco-nomic return. Man does not read the newspaper or historytexts, or visit a museum of art or a national park, for eco-nomic gain. Emerson has said, "Man loves to wonder, andthat is the seed of his science." We have arisen to the heightsof our mental development, and proportionally to our statusin this world, through the human characteristic of wanting toknow something about everything. We wish to know somethingof the past, partly for pure pleasure, and partly for anincreased understanding of life today as based on life as itexisted in the past.

The study of microscopic fossils has led to an interpre-tation of the layers of the earth's crust that is of the most


Plate IV. Dating fossils by carbon 14 method.

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vital economic importance to the petroleum industry. Withoutthe help of these minute organisms, or index fossils, thebulk of oil prospecting would revert to "blind guessing" ratherthan to the well organized interpretation of the geologic struc-tures as we know it today. In some cases, vertebrate andplant fossils can be used for guides or index fossils and giveus a clue to the age of the sediments that contain them. If,for example, a formation were found in which the remainsof a flowering plant were preserved, this formationwould notbe older than the Cretaceous as these plants have theirbeginnings in the Cretaceous. If, in these same beds iden-tifiable dinosaur bones, however scrappy, were found thesediments could not be younger than Cretaceous as the dino-saurs had died out by the end of this period. Likewise, ifbeds are known to contain the remains of the early dawn.horse"Eohippus," these beds can be dated, with complete confi-dence, as Eocene, as the remains of this well known mammalare found only in deposits of Eocene age.

Collecting and Identification

Hardly a roadcut or realignment of a ditch is made inFlorida without some fossil being turned up. Many of thefossils are common enough and well known, but many moreneed identification by a qualified and experienced personin order that a specimen of scientific importance may not belost or set aside as a "curio" to gather dust in a forgottenCorner of some private dwelling. Samples of fossils will begladly received by the Florida Geological Survey and reportedupon. It is most important that all material collected, if itis to have any scientific importance, should have accuratelocality data accompanying it so that adequate comparisonswith faunas of a similar age can be undertaken. Attention toinquiries and general correspondence is an important part ofthe duties of the paleontologist, and affords a means throughwhich the Survey may, in many ways, be of service to thecitizens of the State.

The State Legislative Act of the General Assembly of1907 (Chapter 5681, Section 4) empowered and directed theFlorida Geological Survey to collect and display Florida's


fossil plant and animal remains. To fulfill this objective,the Survey continues to enrich its collections with materialsecured by Survey collection and by gifts from its friends.To adequately display and care for these treasures, a suitablebuilding is needed and it is hoped that this need will be fulfilledin the near future.

It cannot be stressed too strongly that anyone contem-plating collecting fossils within the State should first securepermission from the owners of the land on which any pros-pecting is to be done. The days of unchallenged roaming are,at an end and in most cases permission for collecting will begranted by the owners if the courtesy of requesting thispermission is extended to them.

Although most quarries are fenced and posted, thereis the personal danger of entering, without permission, anarea in which blasting is going on. Abandoned water-filledquarry holes offer a hazard to any small children or non-swimmers who may be in a party engaged inprospecting areasof this sort and adequate precautions should betaken to avoidpreventable accidents.

THE AGE OF MAMMALS

Although mammals had their beginning during the Ageof Reptiles they were insignificant, rat-sized creatures,hardly noticeable among the large ruling reptiles that domi-nated the earth 150 million years ago. These beady-eyedancestors of all mammals to follow mayhave contributed ina small way to the downfall of the dinosaurs by robbing theirnests and destroying the eggs. Insignificant as he was in theCretaceous, the mammal was already better adapted for anactive life on this planet thanwas his neighbor, the dinosaur.The mammal, due to his physiological mechanism, couldmaintain a nearly constant body temperature and therebyremain active regardless of the weather conditions - not sowith the reptile. The activity of this cold blooded animal isregulated by the outside weather conditions and temperature.If the weather is too cold, he is sluggish or even completelyinactive; if the weather is too hot, he simulates a form of

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sunstroke and may even die. The mammal in all respectswas capable of a faster, more continuous mode of existence.

This changeover of mammalian dominance did not takeplace at once, but was a gradual change over millions of yearsand by Eocene time the mammals were here to stay. ByMiocene time, the many groups of mammals had adaptedthemselves to nearly all environments from an existence inwater to the airborne travel of the bats. During the Pleisto-cene much of Florida must have represented the great Seren-getti Game Plains of East Africa during the late 1800's, withvast herds of browsing and grazing herbivores congregatingaround water holes to be preyed upon by the many carnivore sthat existed at that time (text fig. 2).

With all of us familiar with the many mammals thatexist today (including man), it is difficult to visualize aworlddevoid of these animals as it was in the early days of the Ageof Reptiles. Probably the most apparent difference wouldhave been the quietness of this "silent world" lacking themammal and bird noises which we take for granted, unlessthese early reptiles were-capable of making bellowing soundssimilar to those of the Florida alligator.

Eocene

The limestone of the Crystal River formation haspreserved the remains of the extinct whalelike form ofBasilosaurus or Zeuglodon in several widely scattered local-ities throughout the northern portion of the State. This marinemammal attained a length of over 40 feet and had a bodyform that was well adapted to speed and maneuverability inwater (pi. V). The true whales are found in the later marinedeposits and their remains are common finds in the Pleisto-cene deposits of the southern peninsula that are worked bydraglines for their roadbed material.

The vertebrae of Basilosaurus differ noticeably fromthose of other large mammals in that they are proportionallymuch longer when compared to the diameter of the centrumwhich may exceed a measurement of eight inches (pi. I).

Plate V. Eocene whale Basilosaurus or "Zeuglodon.

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FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Text figure 3. Map of Eocene localities.


These vertebrae are usually a blue-black in color when found,and stand out against the white or cream colored matrix ofthe entombing limestone. The premolars and molars arecharacteristically serrate-edged along the margin of thecutting surface and are readily distinguished from the teethof the large Tertiary shark Carcharodon (pi. III). The inci-sors and canines are simple, recurved, cone-shaped struc-tures which have a single pointed root to secure them in thesocket or alveolus of the jaws.

Remains of this large mammal have been found invarious limestone quarries throughout the State and in parti-cular in the Buda pit of The Williston Shell Rock Companynear Buda, Alachua County, and from a pit of the Dell Minenear Mayo, Lafayette County. Remains are alsokaown fromthe quarry of the Suwannee Lime Rock Company nearBran-ford, Suwannee County (text fig. 3).

Text figure 4. Age correlation chart of Florida Eocene withthat of North American provincial stages.


The Eocene beds of Florida are all of marine origin andnone of the interesting terrestrial or land mammals as foundin Wyoming and the adjacent areas have been reported asoccurring within the boundaries of Florida,

Eocene Faunal List

Cetacea: Whales and porpoisesBasilosauridae: Archaic whales

Basilosaurus: Harlan 1834 sp. indet.Basilosaurus cetoides (Owen) 1845

Oligocene

As with most of the beds of Eocene age, all of theOligocene deposits are of marine origin and are representedby the cream colored Marianna limestone which outcropsmainly in Jackson County (text fig. 5).

No mammals have been reported from the Oligocenestrata and only one or two teleost fish of the snapper familyhave been collected and described. However, this isolatedlocality is recorded here in the hope that additional prospec-ting in this area. may turn up mammalian remains.

Both the Eocene and Oligocene deposits of the westernUnited States have vast faunal assemblages of mammalswhose scientific descriptions fill many volumes. It is regret-table that terrestrial deposits of these two periods areunknown among Florida's surface outcrops and that importantcomparisons cannot be made between eastern Eocene faunasand those of the west as they are with the vertebrate fossilsof the Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene periods.


Text figure 5. Map of Oligocene locality.

FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Text figure 6. Map of Miocene localities


Miocene

The Tertiary deposits of the we stern United State s haveyielded a remarkably complete story of the history of landmammals throughout the entire extent of the Age of Mammals.Although the Pleistocene, and the last phase of the Tertiary,are well represented in the eastern United States and a fewmarine deposits of Miocene age are known, only one earlyterrestrial deposit of any consequence is present in the knownsedimentary rocks east of the Mississippi River. The reasonfor this lack of a fossil record, in this part of North America,is due to the early Tertiary sediments being dominantly ma-rine in nature and hence containing no land mammals. Theone exception to this barren record lies in north centralFlorida. This deposit, the richest bone bed of Miocene age ineastern North America, is located in Gilchrist County in amost unpromising-appearing setting of low, sandy flatwoodshaving none of the "usual" surface outcrops visible with whichvertebrate fossils are associated. The circumstances thatled to the discovery, purchase and development of the nowfamous Thomas Farm quarry are worthy of relating here insome detail.

In September 1931, Mr. J. Clarence Simpson, of theFlorida Geological Survey, was investigating a reportedIndian graveyard that had turned up while plowing through adepression in an abandoned field of the old Raeford ThomasFarm located between Bell and Ft. White. Mr, ClarenceSimpson determined correctly that these bones were not ofhuman origin but represented, instead, the remains of theSmall three-toed horse Parahippus andwere similar to thoseobtained from the fuller's earth pit at Midway, Florida, inGadsden County. A small collection of fragments from thosethat littered the surface of the shallow depression whichmarked the original site, were sent back to the GeologicalSurvey office in Tallahassee. The Survey Director at thattime. Dr. Herman Gunter, forwarded these scraps to Dr.G.G. Simpson at the American Museum of Natural Historyin New York City. Dr. Simpson, a recognized authority onfossil mammals, of course recognized the scientific impor-tance of this find and urged that more material be collectedif possible.


Dr. Gunter secured permission to excavate and severalmore tripsweremade to the farm by personnel of the FloridaGeological Survey between 1931 and 1932. A published accountof the first material obtained at this dig was released by theFlorida Survey in 1932 (Simpson, G. G. , Miocene LandMammals from Florida, Florida Geol. Survey Bull. 10,58 p.).

In 1939, Dr. Thomas Barbour, Director of the Museumof Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, made one of hisfrequent trips to the Sunshine State to obtain fossils for theHarvard Museum and stopped for a visit at the office of theFlorida Geological Survey. During the course of his stay inTallahassee, Barbour had occasion to examine the fossilsthat had been obtained from the newly-opened deposits at theThomas Farm,

The result of this visit was a desire, on Barbour'spart, to purchase the forty acres of land that contained thefossil quarry so that it would be protected for future scien-tific excavations. Dr. Gunter located the owners, a loanand trust company in Georgia, and undertook the initial nego-tiations for the purchase of the desired land. The propertywas purchased and deeded over to the present owner, theUniversity of Florida, with the verbal understanding thatHarvard University and the Florida Geological Survey wouldalso enjoy the privilege of collecting fossils from the ThomasFarm quarry, for scientific study or display. The FloridaGeological Survey has received the cooperation of both uni-versities in its endeavor to obtain a series of vertebratesfrom this locality for the state collections that are housedin the Survey's present quarters in the State capitol at Talla-hassee.

The nature of this locality, as it appeared in Miocenetime, has not been solved to the satisfaction of all concerned.Indications point to a partially filled sinkhole or to a cavernor rock shelter having considerable depth, located perhapsat the edge of a stream. That a cavern of some sort waspresent is attested to by the numerous bat remains that arefound in the rubble of a boulder bar or breakdown of a longcollapsed cave roof. That this cavity was at times water fedis indicated by the various amphibian,, aquatic turtle and


alligator remains that are present in the sediments. However,no reliable or identifiable fish bones have turned up in thenearly three decades of digging since the quarry was firstdiscovered. Another indication that this deposit was streamfed at one time or another, while the animals were beingentombed, is substantiated by the waterworn scraps of boneand by the evidence that no articulated or individually asso-ciated skeletons have been found. Instead, it is not unusualto find five or six horse skulls nesting together or half adozen or so femora, of the same side of the animals repre-sented, lying in close contact. Although quite a few completeskeletons are known of the small horse Parahippus (pi. VI),the different elements composing these complete skeletonsmay represent several individuals rather than belonging toone animal as is usually the case in most vertebrate fossilquarries from which complete mammal skeletons are known.

Among the animals, represented in the known collec-tions from this site, are the remains of the large bear-likecarnivore Amphicyon, which rivaled theKodiak bear in bulkand in having a similar battery of powerful teeth. Also pres-ent are the smaller coyote-sized dogs Cynodesmus andTomarctus (pi, VI), as well as a badger Leptarctus and asmall skunk Mip must e la. A few long-snouted camels knownas Floridatragulus as well as the small dik-dik sized artio-dactyl Blastomeryx were also dwellers of the Thomas Farmarea in Miocene time. The remains of two different sizedhornless rhinoceros have occasionally turned up in the exca-vations.

One of the interesting things concerning this Floridalocality, as compared with those of similar age found in thewestern United States (text fig. 7), is the total lack of theremains of either felids or Oreodonts. Both of these groupsof animals are well represented in similar quarries through-out the western United States and the latter animals are sonumerous in some areas that certain layers that contain theirbones have be en dubbed "Oreodonbeds" by the paleontologiststhat work these beds. No positive statements can be made,based on our present knowledge of these forms, as to whythey would occur in great abundance in one area and be totallyabsent in another.


Plate VI. Miocene horse Parahippus and dog-like carnivoreTomarctus.

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The present limits of the excavation, that contain themost productive collecting area, measures approximately 30by 60 feet and reaches a depth of 15 feet below the surroundingterrain. Test borings made by the Florida Geological Surveyindicate that the bone-bearing beds extend to a depth of about30 feet below the present bottom of the pit andbecome barrenof bone about 100 feet out from the present center of opera-tions.

This quarry has actively been worked by one party oranother from each of the three institutions concerned since1941. Dr. A. S. Romer of Harvard University, and presentDirector of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, has postu-lated that the pit would not be completely excavated untilapproximately 2000 man-years of labor had been expended.

It must be stressed that anyone contemplating visitingthe Thomas Farm quarrywillhave to have written permissionfrom the head of the Biology Department of the University ofFlorida. This precaution is to prevent uncontrolled wanderingover the bone deposit, whichwould destroy scientific materialthat could not be replaced.

The Griscom Plantation, or Luna Plantation, as it isgenerally known today, is located about 15 miles north ofTallahassee in Leon County. This plantation is the site of anearly Miocene vertebrate locality thatwas accidentLy discov-ered in 1916 during the course of digging a shaft for a waterwell. This shaft, having a diameter of six or eight feet, wasdug to a depth of 50 feet before it had to be abandoned due toencountering poisonous gases. The workmen had struck abone-bearing layer, just before the pit was vacated, whichhas produced the types of the Miocene horse Parahippusleonensis and the dog-like Cynodesmus iamonensis. The wellwas completed by the use of a mobile drill rig and the largerhand dug opening was filled in around the well casing, noadditional bone fragments being collected. This bone-bearinglayer does not outcrop on the surface in the vicinity of theplantation and, since the original well is now in the landscapedarea of the plantation headquarters, it is improbable in the

SPECIAL PTOUCATION NO. 6 33

foreseeable future that additional material will be collectedfrom this locality. Allofthe animals obtained from this well,with the exception of the carnivore Temnocyon, are alsoknown from the Thomas Farm quarry. This last named formhas been recorded from a small bone-bearing pocket situatedin Pit No. 2 of the Franklin Phosphate Company's mine nearNewberry i-n Alachua County. This pit is now abandoned anda good deal of the exposures are covered with redepositedsurface soil or vegetation so that the possibilities of gettinggood additional material from this locality are poor indeed.

As in the case of the Griscom Plantation, the diggingof a pump pit by the Tallahasseewaterworks was responsiblefor some very tantalizing fragments of the Miocene rhino-ceros Aphelops and a camel Nothokemus. These meagerscraps were collected in 1930 and here again, as in theGriscom Plantation locality, the bone-bearing layer is nolonger available for further exploration.

The most recent locality of Miocene age to come tolight was exposed by a road cut through Colclough Hill, southof Gainesville in Alachua County, This layer, judging bythe fauna, was laid down as a marine or brackish waterdeposit. The animals from this layer have been identified asthe small Miocene horse Parahippus blackbergi, a squirrel-like rodent and numerous shark and ray teeth. Although this

• site will most surely never be developed as a quarry, enoughmaterial has been collected as surface scrap towarrant futureinvestigation, particularly after heavy rains.

Only two good Miocene localities have been reportedfrom the Florida panhandle. Both of these are located inGadsden County and were located in the fuller's earth minesof this area. The first of these localities, at Quincy, pro-duced Florida's first identifiable material of the Miocenehorse Merychippus. From the second locality, at Midway,were recorded scraps of Parahippus and Nothokemus as wellas Merychippus. Both of these sites are now in abandonedwater-filled pits. The surrounding country is covered bybrush so that little hope is held for any additional fossils being


obtained from the original locations.

The fossil beds of Polk County will be discussed in somedetail in the following section on the Pliocene beds of the BoneValley, but a note is in order in this section pointing out thatvertebrate remains, found only in the Miocene in other partsof thewestern hemisphere, have been taken up from the BoneValley deposits.

These "true" Miocene forms are the badger Leptarctus,the tapir Tapiravus, and the cetacean Hoplocetus.

Text figure 7. Age correlation chart of Florida Miocene withthat of North American provincial stages.


Miocene Faunal List

Chiroptera: BatsVespertilionidae: Little brown bats, big brownbats, etc.

Suaptenos whitei Lawrence 1943Miomyotis floridanus Lawrence 1943Gen. et sp. indet. : Eptesicus-likevespertilionid

Rodentia: RodentsMylagaulidae: Extinct family

Mesogaiilus Riggs 1899, sp. nov.Heteromyidae: Pocket mice, kangaroo rats

Proheteromys magnus A. E. Wood 1932Proheteromys'florida'nus A. E. Wood 1932Gen. et sp. indet.

Cricetidae: Native rats and mice (rice rats,cotton rats, white-footed mice, etc.)

Gen. et. sp. indet.Cetacea: Whales and porpoises

Physeteridae: Sperm whalesHoplocetus Gervais 1848-52

Acrodelphidae: Long-beaked porpoisesSchizodelphis bobengi Case 1934Schizodelphis depressus G. M. Alien 1921Pomatodelphis inaequalis G. M. Alien 1921

Delphinidae: Dolphins, killer whales, blackfish,etc.

Megalodelphis magnidens Kellogg 1944Cetotheriidae: Whale-bone whales in part

?Isocetus Van Beneden 1880, sp. indet.?Mesocetus Van Beneden 1880, sp. indet.

Carnivora: CarnivoresCanidae: Dogs, wolves, foxes, etc.

Cynodesmus iamonensis (Sellards) 1916Tomarctus canavus (Simpson) 1932Temnocyon Cope 1878, sp. indet.Enhydrocyon spissidens (White) 1947Amphicyon longiramus White 1942Absonodaphoenus bathygenus Olsen 195E?Aelurodon johnhenryi White 1947

Mustelidae: Badgers, skunks, weasels, otters,etc.


Oligobunis floridanus White 1947? Miomustela Hall 1930, sp. indet.Leptarctus ancipidens (White) 1941Leptarctus progressus Simpson 1930

Sirenia: Sea cows, manatees, and dugongsDugongidae: Dugongs

Hesperosiren crataegensis Simpson 1932Perissodactyla: Odd-toed ungulates

Equidae: HorsesAnchitherium clarencei Simpspn 1932Parahippus blackbergi (Hay) 1924Parahippus leonensis Sellards 1916Merychippus we stoni Simpson 1930

Tapir idae: Tapirs?Tapiravus Marsh 1877, sp. indet.

Rhinocerotidae: RhinocerosesCaenopus cf. platycephalus (Osborn andWortman) 1894Gen. et. sp. nov. , H. E-Wood (ms. ): LargerhinocerosDiceratherium (Menoceras) Marsh 1875,sp. nov., H. E. Wood(ms.): SmallrhinocerosDiceratherium Marsh 1875 or CaenopusCope 1880, sp. indet.Aphelops Cope 1873, sp. indet.

Artiodactyla: Even-toed ungulatesEntelodontidae : Extinct pig -like ungulate s

Daeodon (Dinohyus)(Cope)1879, sp. indet.Tayassuidae: Peccaries

Desmathyus olseni (White) 1941?0reodontidae; Extinct family? Camelidae : Camels, guanacos, and vicunas

Floridatragulus dolichanthereus White 1940Nothokemas floridanus (Simpson) 1932Camelid cf. Miolabis tennis Matthew 1924

Protoceratidae: Extinct familySynthetoceras (Prosynthetoceras) australis(White) 1940

Cervidae: DeerBlastomeryx (Parablastomeryx) floridanus(White) 1940Blastomeryx cf. marshi Lull 1920Machaeromeryx gilchristensis White 1941?Dromomeryx cf. americanus Douglass 1903


Text figure 8. Map of Pliocene localities.


Plate VII. Pliocene four-tusked mastodon Serridentinqs andaquatic rhinoceros Teleoceras.

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Mio - Pliocene

Perhaps no area in Florida has caused the concern, inregard to dating the vertebrate fauna it contains, as has theBone Valley of Polk County. The term "Bone Valley" shouldbe used to define a geographic boundary, rather than a strati-graphic unit. as beds ranging from upper Miocene through thelower Pleistocene are known to occur in the "Bone Valley" asdefined by earlierworkers. Thesebeds, insomecases, showa lithologic change but are not clearly mapable units.

Terrestrial vertebrates, known elsewhere only fromthe Pliocene have been recorded as occurring in the BoneValley beds of Polk County. These animals are the bear-like .carnivore Agriotherium, the huge sloth Megatherium(also recorded into the Pleistocene), the horses Hipparion,Nannipus and Neohipparion, the artiodactyls Megatylopus andHexamerys, the sirenian Felsinotherium, and the cetaceansKogiopsis and Balaenoptera. Animals that are present in thePliocene and into the Miocene in other fossil areas of NorthAmerica are the hyena-like Osteoborus, the proboscideansSerridentinus (pi. VII), Rhynchotherium and Mammut (thislast named form continues into the Pleistocene), the rhinosT eleoc eras and Aphelops (pi. VII), along with the artiodactylsProsthenops and Procamelus.

There has been considerable confusion and even alteredopinions among previous workers as to the age determinations.of these beds. A report by E. W. Bishop and H. Stewart onthe geology of Polk County will clarify some of these strati-graphic problems.

The vertebrate remains that were collected from thePolk County phosphate pits, during the early days of mining,were more complete than the scraps that are now recoveredfrom the sump pits surrounding the hydraulic guns. Thisdifference is due entirely to the method or mode of miningused today as compared with that used several decades ago.Originally, the hydraulic guns were placed in the quarriesand the phosphate matrixwas cut away to be processed. Thus,when a specimen was uncovered by the jet of water, it waspossible to divert the stream to another area until the fossil

SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO, 6 41

remains could be collected. The mining method used todayconsists of employing a huge dragline power shovel, havinga bucket with a 25-yard capacity, bite into the phosphate layerfrom which thematrix is lifted and swung over awater-filled

Photo: Florida State News BureauText figure 9. Phosphate mining operations using 25-yard

dragline bucket and hydraulic sump pit gun.


sump pit and dumped. This material is then broken downbya manually operated hydraulic gun (text fig. 9) and the re-sulting mud is pumped through metal pipes to the washingplant. Obviously, onlythemost resistant vertebrate remainscan withstand such treatment so that today's collectors,working the Bone Valley beds must be content with teeth orbone scraps rather than the more complete skulls and skele-tons of yesterday's prospector. Here, again, it must beemphasized that nearly all of the fossil-collecting areas inPolk County are on private lands so that permission shouldbe obtained before venturing into any pit, abandoned or other-wise.

The small community of Haile in Alachua County, hasbeen the scene of some collecting activity during the last fewyears. Mr. J. Clarence Simpson, shortly before his death,collected some Pliocene horse teeth and bone fragments alongwith a few amphibian and reptile remains whose descriptionshave been.published in several technical papers, establishingthis pocket as Pliocene in age.

Text figure 10. Age correlation chart of Florida Pliocenewith that of North American provincialstages.

SPECIAL PIJBLICATiOlSNO. 6 43

One locality from which a great quantity of Pliocenevertebrates were recovered is in Levy County, northeast ofWilliston. This quarry known as Mixon's Bone Bed has notbeen worked in recent years but the following forms wereidentified as coming from this site during the initial stagesof working this dig. The proboscidean Serridentinus, andthe rhinoceros Teleoceras (pi. VII), the horse Hipparionand the Pliocene camel Procamelus. This deposit is alsoon private land and permission must be granted before anycollecting can be done.

There are many redeposited surface finds, particu-larly in the peninsular part of the State from which Plio-Pleistocene forms have been collected, but as with anytransitional mammal not collected from a known horizon itis nearly impossible to be sure whether they are "true"Pliocene forms or "true" Pleistocene forms.

Pliocene Faunal List

Cetacea: Whales and porpoisesPlatanistidae: River dolphins

Goniodelphis hudsoni G. M. Alien 1941Physeteridae: Sperm whales

Kogiopsis Kellogg 1929Balaenopteridae: Whale-bone whales in part

Balaenoptera floridana Kellogg 1944: Extinctrorqual


Osteoborus eras sapineatus Olsen 1956Pliogula dudleyi White 1941

Ursidae: BearsAgriotherium schneideri Sellards 1916

Proboscidea: Elephants, mastodonts, etc.Gomphotheriidae: Serrate-toothed mastodonts


Serridentinus (Ocalientinus) floridanus(Leidy) 1887Serridentinus (Ocalientinus) floridanus leidii(Frick) 1926Serridentinus (Ocalientinus) bifolia.tus(Osborn) 1929 "Serridentinus (Serbelodon) brewsterensisOsborn 1926Gomphotherium simplicidens (Osborn) 1923Gomphotherium Burmeister 1837, sp. indet.Rhynchotherium simpsoni Olsen 1957

Marnmutidae: MastodontsMammut sellardsi (Simpson) 1930

Sirenina: Sea cows, manatees, and dugongsDugongidae: Dugongs

Felsinotherium floridanum (Hay) 1922Felsinotherium ossivallense Simpson 1932

Peris sodactyla: Odd-toed ungulatesEquidae: Horses

Hipparion plicatile (Leidy) 1888Neohipparion phosphorum Simpson 1930Nannipus ingenuum (Leidy) 1886Nannipus minor (Sellards) 1916

Rhinocerotidae: RhinocerosesAphelops longipes (Leidy) 1891Teleoceras proterus (Leidy) 1886

Artiodactyla: Even-toed ungulatesTayassuidae: Peccaries

Prosthennops elmorei White 1942Camelidae: Camels, guanacos, and vicunas

?Procamelus minimus (Leidy) 1887?Procamelus minor (Leidy) 1887? Megathylopus major (Leidy) 1887

Antilocapridae: Pronghorned "antelopes"Hexameryx elmorei White 1942Hexameryx simpsoni White 1941


c^-<-) f^../ ^<,"<^.

VERTEBRATE FOSSILLOCALITIES^

1-SEMINOLE FIELD2-VERO3-MELBOURNE4-HAILE5-ARREDONDO6-REDDICK7-ST.PETERSBURGbRAGLINE8-BRADENTON J PITS

RIVERS AND SPRINGS9-ST. JOHNS (SPOIL BANKS)10-PEACE CREEK11-WAKULLA SPRINGS12-ITCHTUCKNEE RIVER AND SPRINGS13-AUCILLA RIVER14-HORNSBY SPRING

CAVES15-EICHLEBERGER16-SABER-TOOTH17-IRON LADDER18-MARIANNA AREA ofcci> ......,

Text figure 11. Map of better known Pleistocene localities.


Plate VIII. Pleistocene mammoth.

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Plate IX. Pleistocene mastodon.

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Plate X. Florida saber-tooth tiger and Pleistocene horses.

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5 2 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Plate XI. Giant sloth Megatherium and Glyptodont.

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Plate XII. Pleistocene camel Tanupolama andwolfAenocyon.

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Pleistocene

It is onlynatural that the most recent fossil mammals,those of the Pleistocene, or Ice age, shouldbethe mostwidelydistributed in the State and the best known. The stream andswamp deposits in which their remains are preserved havenot yet been so deeplyburied as to be inaccessible nor, likemost of the older beds, so long attacked by rivers and oceansas to have been largely eroded away and their contents lostor redeposited.

The abundance of mammals in Florida at this time wasextraordinary. It can only be compared with that of the biggame region of Africa (text fig. 2). Most, perhaps all, of therecent mammals or their immediate ancestors were alreadypresent but there was a host of other stranger animals be-sides. Mammoths (pi. X), mastodons (pi. IX), saber-toothtigers and horses (pi. X), giant sloths and armadillos (pi. XI),as well as llama-like camels and wolves (pi. XII), populatedthe peninsula of Florida in great numbers.

Even among the less spectacular animals there weremany that no longer inhabit Florida, or that have entirelyvanished from the face of the earth. Thus there were at leasttwo species of capybaras, so-called "water hogs" relativelylarge rodents of a group which now lives only in South America;there was a small rodent, the bog lemming, which rangesmany miles north of Florida today, and a giant beaver, nowextinct, beside which the living beaver is a dwarf.

Flesh-eaters were not lackingtoprey on this abundantlife. In addition to the black bear, there was a short-facedbear (Tremarctos floridanus, pi. XIV) allied to the strangespectacled bear of South America. There was a dire-wolf(Cams or Aenocyon ayersi, pi. XII), larger than the recentwolf, and a smaller coyote (Cams latrans) which has beenextirpated from Florida. The remains of the saber-toothtiger (Smilodon floridanus, pi. X) have turned up in severallocalities onboth coasts of central Florida and the best knownremains are from a sinkhole cave in Citrus County, knownand recorded as Saber-Tooth Cave.

Remains of the ground sloths and the various armadillos


(pi. XI) are common finds and the bony outer scutes of thelatter (pi. Ill) turn up in almost every locality of Pleistoceneage. ,

One of the great mysteries of the Pleistocene concernsthe horse. This animal, if we are to judge by his abundantfossilized remains, was present in great numbers on thiscontinent from the Eocene to within some 10, 000 years ago.Then, for some now unknown reason, possibly disease, ora change of climate, this noble animal died out and becameextinct on this continent. In February 1519, Cortes sailedfrom Havana for the conquest of Mexico, and took with him16 horses, the first to set foot on this continent since thelast Ice age horse died out. Actually, 17 horses arrived onthe Mexican shore, for one of the mares foaled during thejourney. These horses (pi. XIII) and the other horses thatcame after them made and changed history. The conquestwould have failed without them.

Mammoths and mastodons were so abundant that theirteeth are the most commonly found fossil mammalian remainsin the State (pi. II). The mastodons (pi. IX) were not trueelephants and differed from the mammoth (pi. VIII) in havingstraighter tusks, higher cusped teeth withfewer ridges thanthose found in the mammoth and in having all of the cheek teethin place simultaneously rather than having the next replace-ment tooth already crowding against the back face of thefunctional tooth as is evidenced in the mammoth and his livingrelative, the elephant. Although the Pleistocene is generallytermed the Ice age, the icecap did not reach as far south asFlorida and the woolly mammothwas never a resident of thepeninsula. The remains of the Imperial and Columbianmammoths are among the more common fossil finds inFlorida today.

The fauna of Florida in the Pleistocene bore a greatresemblance to the fauna of South America. Capybaras,short-faced bears, sloths, armadillos, tapirs, camels(llamas, etc. ), and peccaries are all animals which we asso-ciate with the southern continent at present. This resem-blance is due to two causes: some of the animals did comefrom South America, others originated in the North but


Plate XIII. Reintroduction of the horse into North Americaby the Spaniards.

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Plate XIY. PleistoceneVero man and cave bear Tremarctos.

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survive only in the South. At about the beginning of the Plio-cene, South America, which for a very long time had beenisolated from all other continents by the oceans, was reunitedwith North America. Over this new Central American land-bridge came members of groups which had been evolving inisolation in the southern continent: the capybaras, porcu-pines, ground sloths, armadillos and glyptodonts. The short-faced bears, tapirs, camels and peccaries, on the contrary,then entered South America for the first time (along with deer,wolves, horses, mastodons, and other animals) but survivedlonger in their new homes than they did in North America.

The localities that have yielded Pleistocene fossils aremany and varied in nature so that only some of the better.known deposits are discussed below. Chances are very goodthat nearly every major excavation within the State of Floridawill-yield up an identifiable fossil.

Seminole Field, on the outskirts of St. Petersburg hasthe importance of giving us one of the few radiocarbon datesfor the State. This date is based on a charcoal fragment,associated with the bones of extinct animals, and placed thematerial as being here in a live state about 3, 000 or 4, 000years ago. The collecting area that has in past years beenmost productive has now been destroyed by a new housingdevelopment so that fossil collecting inSeminole Field todayis most limited.

On the east coast of peninsular Florida are two local-ities that perhaps have been the cause of more discussionamong scientific personnel than has any other Pleistocenelocalities in the eastern United States. These localities atthe Vero Canal and the Melbourne golf course were the sub-ject of much discussion, during World War I times, due tothe finding of human fragments in association with an extinctanimal fauna. This area has also produced the type materialof the huge Canis (or Aenocyon) ayersi as well as that of theextinct tapir Tapirus veroensis.

The small sinkhole deposits at Haile and Arredondo


have produced some fine tapir and peccary bones along witha series of "micro-vertebrates" that are unknown from otherPleistocene localities.

Anyone who has ever dug for Pleistocene vertebratesin Florida and has stopped for a brief rest, to lean back andcontemplate amid the surrounding lush vegetation and warmsunshine, cannot help but wonder about the appearance of thisfirst "winter resort" when it was inhabited by the animalsthat now lie buried beneath the rich soil of nearly every partof the State.

A now abandoned quarrynear Reddick has been respon-sible for perhaps the largest collection of rodents to haveever been collected from the Pleistocene deposits of Florida.These small bones are undoubtedly due to a long abandonedowl roost and the bones are the last remnants of owl pelletsthat must have littered the cave floor. A nearly completeskeleton of a cave bear, some horse and camel remains anda few scraps of Smilodon have also turned upat this locality.

The deposit is no longer recognizable as a cave floordue to the limestone cave having been mined away leaving theonce dark interior floor exposed to the open air and sunshine.Here again, as with so many of Florida's localities, permis-sion must be obtained before one can collect in this area.

The many shell marl dragline pits of the St. Petersburgand Bradenton areas have been listed as good spots to obtainfragmentary remains of most of the Pleistocene animals thatwere present in Florida. Due to the methods of mining onlythe smaller bones are ever recovered in a complete conditionand nothing associated or more complete can be added to thetantalizing scraps that turn up. The material is dredgedup from a water-filled pit and dumped on a spoil heap fromwhich it can be recovered. But, to get additional materialfrom the exact spot from which a spoil bank scrapwas obtainedis nearly impossible.


Text figure 12. Age correlation chart of Florida Pleistocenewith that of North American provincialstages.


Pleistocene Faunal List

Marsupialia: Opossums only in North AmericaDidelphidae: Opossums

Didelphis marsupialis Linnaeus 1758:Virginia opossum

Insectivora: Moles, shrews, hedgehogs, etc.Talpidae: Moles

Scalopus aquaticus (Linnaeus) 1758:Eastern mole

Soricidae: ShrewsBlarina brevicauda (Say) 1823: Short-tailedshrewCryptotis floridana (Merriam) 1895: Floridashort-tailed shrew

Chiroptera: BatsVespertilionidae: Little brown bats, big brownbats, etc.

Myotis Kaup 1829, sp. indet.Myotis cf. austroriparius (Rhoads) 1897

Molossidae: Free-tailed batsMolossides floridanus G. M. Alien 1932:Extinct free-tailed bat

Primates: Lemurs, monkeys, apes, man, etc.Hominidae: Man

Homo sapiens Linnaeus 1758: ManEdentata: Armadillos, anteaters, and sloths

Megalonychidae: Megalonychid ground slothsMegalonyx jeffersonii (Desmarest) 1822:Jeffersonian ground slothMegalonyx cf. wheatleyi Cope 1871: cf.Wheatley's ground sloth

Megatheriidae: Megatheriid ground slothsMegatherium hudsoni White 1941Megatherium mirabile Leidy 1854

Mylodontidae: Mylodont ground slothsParamylodon harlani (Owen) 1840: Harlan'sground slothThinobadistes segnis Hay 1919

Dasypodidae: ArmadillosChlamytherium septentrionalis (Leidy) 1890:Extinct giant "armadillo"

66 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL, SURVEY

Dasypus bellus (Simpson) 1929: Extinctarmadillo

Glyptodontidae: GlyptodontsBoreostracon floridanus Simpson 1929

Lagomorpha: Rabbits, hares, and pikasLeporidae: Hares and rabbits

Sylvilagus floridanus^ (J. A. Alien) 18 9 O.-Florida cottontailSylvilagus palastrellus Gazin 1950: Pigmymarsh rabbitSylvilagus palustris (Brachman) 1837:Marsh rabbit

Rodentia: RodentsSciuridae: Squirrels .

Sciurus carolinensis Gmelin 1788: Graysquirrel

Geomyidae: Pocket gophersPlesiothomomys orientalis (Simpson) 1928:Extinct pocket gopherGeomys pinetis Rafinesque 1817: Pocketgopher

Castoridae: BeaversCastor canadensis Kuhl 1820: BeaverCastortoides ohioensis Foster 1838: Extinctgiant beaver

Cricetidae: Native rats and mice (rice rats,cotton rats, white-footed mice, etc.)

Oryzomys palustris (Harlan) 1837: Rice ratReithrodontomys humulis (Audubon andBachman) 1841: Harvest mousePeromyscus floridanus (Chapman) 1889:Florida white-footed mousePeromyscus gossypinus (LeConte) 1853:Cotton mouseSigmodon hispidus Say and Ord 1825:Cotton ratNeotoma floridana (Ord) 1818; Wood ratSynaptomys (Synaptomys) australis Simpson1928: Extinct bog lemmingOndatra zibethicus (Linnaeus) 1766: MuskratOndatra zibethicus floridanus Lawrence1942: Extinct subspecies of muskrat


Neofiber alleni True 1884: Florida waterrat or round-tailed muskratPitymys pinetorum (Le Conte) 1830: Pinemouse

Erethizontidae: New world porcupinesErethizon dorsatum (Linnaeus) 1758: NorthAmerican porcupine

Hydrochoeridae: CapybarasNeochoerus pickneyi (Hay) 1923: Extinctgiant capybaraHydrochoerus holmesi Simpson 1928:Extinct capybara

Cetacea: Whales and porpoisesCetacea indet.Delphinidae: Dolphins, killer whales, blackfish,etc.

Globicephala ?baereckeii Sellards 1916:Extinct blackfish

?Balaenopteridae: Whale-bone whales in part?Balaenoptera Lacepede 1804, sp. indet. :? Rorqual


Aenocyon ayersi (Sellards) 1916Canis latrans Say 1823: CoyoteCanis cf. lupus Linnaeus 1758: WolfVulpes ?palmaria Hay 1917: Extinct ( ? ) r e d?oxUrocyon cinereoargenteus (Schreber) 1775:Gray foxUrocyon seminolensis Simpson 1929:Extinct gray fox

Ursidae: Bears?Tremarctos floridanus (Gidley) 1928:Extinct spectacled ( ? ) bearUrsus americanus Pallas 1780: Black bearUrsus Linnaeus 1758, sp. nov. ? : "True"Ursus (not black bear)

Procyonidae: RaccoonsProcyon lotor (Linnaeus) 1758: RaccoonProcyon nanus Simpson 1929: Extinctraccoon

Mustelidae: Badgers, skunks, weasels, otters,etc.


Mustela. frenata Lichtenstein 1831: BridledweaselMephitis mephitis (Schreber) 1776: StripedsktmkSpilogale ambarvalis Bangs 1898: Littlespotted skunkLutra canadensis (Schreber) 1776: Riverotter

Felidae: CatsFelis (Lynx) rufus Schreber 1777: BobcatFelis (Noctifelis or Herpailurus) Severtzov1858, sp. indet. : Margay or jaguarundi-type catFelis (Puma) ?inexpectata (Cope) 1896:Extinct ( ? ) pumaPanthera (Jaguarius) ?augusta (Leidy) 1872:Extinct ( ? ) species of jaguarSmilodon floridanus (Leidy) 1889: Floridasaber-tooth cat

Phocidae: True or "earless" sealsMonachus tropicalis (Gray) 1850: WestIndian monk seal

Proboscidea: Elephants, mastodonts, etc.Mammutidae: Mastodonts

Mammut americanum (Kerr) 1792:American mastodon

Elephantidae: ElephantsMammuthus (Parelephas) columbi (Falconer)1857: Columbian mammothMammuthus (Parelephas) floridanus (Osborr)1929: Florida mammothMammuthus (Archidiskodon) imperator(Leidy) 1859: Imperial mammoth

Sirenia: Sea cows, manatees, and dugongsTrichechidae: Manatees

Trichechus Linnaeus 1758, sp. indet. :Manatee

Perissodactyla: Odd-toed ungulatesEquidae: Horses

Equus Linnaeus 1758, sp. indet. : HorsesTapiridae: Tapirs

Tapirus veroensis Sellards 1918: Floridatapir


Tapirus Brisson 1762, sp. indet. : Largetapir

Artiodactyla: Even-toed ungulatesTayassuidae: Peccaries

Mylohyus gidleyi Simpson 1929: ExtinctpeccaryPlatygonus LeConte 1848, sp. indet. :Extinct peccary? Tayassu Fischer 1814, sp. indet.

Camelidae: Camels, guanacos, and vicunasCamelidae indet. , cf. Camelops Leidy 1854Camelidae indet. , cf. Tanupolamaamericana (Wortman) 1898Tanupolama mirifica Simpson 1929: Extinctcamel

Cervidae: Deer?Cervus Linnaeus 1758, sp. indet. :Medium-sized cervidOdocoileus virginianus (Boddaert) 1784:Virginia deer

Bovidae: Bison, cattle, sheep, goats, etc.Bison latifrons (Harlan) i325: Extinct bisonBison H. Smith 1827, sp. indet.

Pleistocene or Recent

The final chapter in the history of the animal life ofFlorida, that of transition from Pleistocene to Recent times,is adisasterous one, as it has been almost everywhere. Thepresent fauna of the State, although it possesses some uniqueinhabitants, is only a poor and colorless remnant of what itonce supported. Half, or perhaps even two-thirds, of thePleistocene mammals are now extinct and those of their com-panions which still survive are not only relatively few innumbers but are also generally the smaller and less strikingforms. The rabbits, squirrels, rats, mice, some of thecarnivores, and one of the deer, have survived, but the manysloths, horses, tapirs, camels, mastodons, mammoths andmany others no longer exist. It is not possible to assign adefinite cause to this decimation, but if present conjecturesas to the antiquity of man prove to be correct , it •will seemquite probable that the destruction of animal life by man, still


going on, startedwithhis victory over some of the Pleistocenemammals, a victory for which one must now feel some regret.

But what of man? Was he associated with some of thegreat extinct animals as he was in Europe? If so, does thisindicate the great antiquity of man on this continent or therecent extinction of these mammals? These are questionswhich have long been asked and which cannot be fully answeredeven now. At several places in Florida, especially Vero andMelbourne, human bones and the products of human handshave been found inapparent association with the extinct ani-mals mentioned above (pi. XIV).

If further discoveries confirm these and if they caneventually survive the severe scientific criticism to whichthey are now properly being subjected, it will appear that manhas been in Florida for some thousands of years and the firstarrivals in this region disputed the ground with mammoths,mastodons and the other great beasts of the glacial epoch.This evidence will have to be in a form beyond reproach, suchas a mastodon vertebra with an arrow point embedded in thebone, and the bone growing around the point. Associationalone is not sufficient proof of man's antiquity in Florida.

Most of the localities termed "Pleistocene-Recent" areto be found as spring or stream deposits or as floor depositsof caves. Almost every spring or riverbed has produced somebone scraps that can be identified as belonging to animals thatlived during Pleistocene times. Springs and stream/beds alsocontain a generous admixture of Recent as well as Pleistocenematerial so that care must be exercised in determining towhich of these epochs the bones belong. Also some of theanimals recorded as living during Pleistocene times, haveonly recently disappeared from Florida scenes. This faunaincludes the great auk, the beaver, flat-tailed muskrat, boglemming, bison, spectacled bear, jaguar and a few others.Just where to draw the line between Pleistocene and Recentis a matter of taste rather than of fact and a few people believethat we are still living in the Pleistocene.

Since the invention of the self-contained diving appara-tus (text fig. 13) many underwater localities have yielded uptheir secrets to the modern prospector who can now enter


Photo: W. Jenkins

Text figure 13. Aqua lung prospecting and collecting.

7 2 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

tbfi element of the fish and the frog in orde?" to continue hissearchfor fossil bones. However, too much emphasis cannotbe placed on the danger of improperly using the self-containeddiving apparatus. All persons wishing to indulge in this fast-growing sport should be -checked out by an expert beforeattempting to dive in Florida's swifter rivers or deeperspringheads. Close attention should be paid to the decom-pression charts and to the time that must be spent at thedifferent depths during the ascension from a deep dive. Thatthe last cautionary comments are not idle pessimism is borneout by the recorded diving accidents that have occurred ' inrecent years. Many of these accidents were due to carelesshandling of good equipment which, in itself, was not directlyresponsible for these accidents.

Some of the more attractive water covered depositsare the St. Johns River in the Jacksonville-Mayport area(although the spoil banks above the river's edge are the mostproductive collecting), the Peace Creek area from whichmany of Florida's first described fossils were obtained, andthe Itchtucknee River. This last named river is perhaps thebest general collecting in the State. Located as a naturalboundary between Columbia and Suwannee counties in northcentral Florida, this river flows for about five miles fromits main spring to where it joins the Santa Fe River. Goodmaterial has been obtained from the Blue Hole (termed JugSpring by later collectors) just below the main spring andalso from the clay flats of the Mill Pond area which beginsa mile downstream from the main boil. The best method ofcollecting in the mill pond area is by the use of a steel rodor probe which is shoved into the clay, just beneath the water.If a bone is struck, it is felt through the metal rod and canthen be gently excavated, the swift running water carryingaway the excavated mud. Many of the fragile muskrat skullsand antlered deer skulls were obtained by Mr. ClarenceSimpson in this way. Most rivers in Florida have pockets inthe limestone bottoms which are natural collecting traps sothat good specimens can be obtained from among the residuethat has collected over the years. This residue also includespresent day animals along with the soft drink bottles and beercans so thoughtfully deposited by the fishermen. WakullaSpring, near Tallahassee, is the locality from which a nearlycomplete mastodon skeleton was obtained by the Florida.


Geological Survey. This area has also produced many archaicweapon points and some early pottery. No proof of man'sassociation with the early mammals found here has been putforth. Recent dives by the Florida State University students(text fig. 13) have been successful in penetrating the springshaft for a distance of over 1, 100 feet and a vertical depth of250 feet.

Much of this distance is littered with bones of longextinct animals, many of them proboscideans. The reasonfor this abundance of vertebrate material is yet to be ex-plained.

Caves, the realm of the speleologist or "spelunker"offer another field of fossil collecting that has barely beentouched. Many of the limestone caves, situated in the cen-tral peninsula and the western panhandle, have been workedwith some degree of success by bone hunters who prefer thismedium to the hot sunny quarries that one usually associateswith vertebrate paleontology. Although many of these caveshave been explored, few have been excavated to the degree ofthat found in Saber-Tooth Cave in Citrus County. EichlebergerCave, south of Ocala, penetrates the limestone for hundredsof feet, yet the best collecting area was discovered beneaththe cave floor just inside the main entrance. There the re-mains of Canis ayersi were recoveredalong with some frag-ments of horse and camel. Also present were the remainsof rodents, rabbits and a few peccary teeth.

Iron Ladder Cave north of Saber-Tooth Cave, wasnamed for the metal windmill ladder that gives access to theunderground crypt through a hole in the cave ceiling. Thebone-bearing layer was the most lucrative just below the 60-foot high opening in the ceiling. This accumulation of boneswas undoubtedly due to the animals falling through the holeand being killed on impact on the rocks below. One humanskeleton, probably Indian, is known from this bone pile, belowone of nature's natural traps. One can but wonder how thisearly hunter met his death.

The Florida Panhandle, particularly the Mariannaarea, is honeycombed with caves and it is safe to state that

74 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL, SURVEY

the best fossil cave localities are yet to be discovered inFlorida. -

Perhaps Florida is the only state in which vertebratefossils can be collected within easy access to cool shade andclear running spring water, and one in which a successfulfield trip can be conducted within a few hours drive ratherthan a trip of several days, which has been the experienceof the majority of collectors setting forth from Eastern Statesto obtain a collection of Tertiary vertebrates.

DIRECTIONS TO VERTEBRATE FOSSIL LOCALITIES

Eocene

Mayo - Dell mine of the Williston Shell Rock CompanyNE^NW^ sec. 32, T. 4 S. , R. 11 E. , Lafayette County (inquireat mine office for permission to enter). Reached fromU. S.Highway 27 at Mayo.

Miocene

Thomas Farm - NW^SW^ sec. 20, T. 7 S., R. 15 E. ,Gilchrist County (written permission is needed from head of

r Biology Department, University of Florida, Gaine sville).Reached from State Highway 49. Quarry at east of road,between Santa Fe River Bridge and town of Bell.

Polk County Phosphate Pits - Pits of American Agri-cultural Chemical Company at Pierce and Brewster. Spoilbanks of many abandoned pits contain vertebrate remains ofMiocene age. (Permission neededto enter property - inquireatCompany office in Pierce. )

Pliocene

Haile - Limestone quarry, SW^ sec. 24, R. 17 E. ,T.9 S. , Alachua County. Haile can be reached by going eastfrom Newberry on State Highway 235. Quarry lies to thesouth of Haile.

FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 75

Pleistocene

Vero - Spoil banks of the drainage canal one -half milenorth of Vero and starting approximately 500 feet west ofbridge of U. S. Highway 1. Permission neededto excavate oncanal banks.

Reddick - Mine of Dixie Lime Products Corporation,one mile southeast of Reddick, southwest corner NW-^- sec. 14,T. 13 S. , R.21 E. , Marion County. Permission needed toenter area.

St. Petersburg andBradenton - Localities in this areaare subject to such rapid change that it would be nearlyuseless to list the current collecting sites. However, manydragline operations, such as are underway for constructingyacht basins or housing sites (island or lagoon sites) arewell worth visiting in order to prospect over the dredged fillfor vertebrate remains. Permission shouldbe obtained fromowners or contractors before entering construction areas.

Itchtucknee River - This stream forms the northeastboundary of Suwannee County and the northwest boundary ofColumbia County. Better collecting areas of this river arelocated in main stream bed between bridge for U. S. High-way 27 and main spring. Property owned by Loncala Phos-phate Company of Ocala, Florida. Permission needed tocollect.

Aucilla River - River bed south of bridge on U. S.Highway 98 to the Gulf. Deeper holes in limestone streambottom are better collecting basins. This stream forms theboundary between Jefferson and Taylor counties.

Saber-Tooth Cave - Approximately 1 miles northwestof Lecanto, Citrus County, on the property of Mr. AustinAlien. Turnoff to property lg miles west of Lecanto onState Highway 44. Permission needed to visit this sinkholecave.

Iron Ladder Cave - Approximately 2^ miles northwestof Lecanto, Citrus County. Cave on property of Mr. GeneMaynard. Turnoff to property 1^ miles west of Lecanto onState Highway 44. Permission needed to visit this cave.

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Floridas Fossil Mammals