Abstract
Fossils of the ursid Indarctos from Withlacoochee River 4A of Florida (late early Hemphillian North American Land Mammal Age, Hh2, ~ 7.5–6.5 Ma) represent the best sample of this genus in North America, including both craniodental and postcranial specimens, yet only the skull has been described. In this study, we describe the other material of this bear from the same locality and review the records of Indarctos in North America. Indarctos from Withlacoochee River 4A has dental characters in accordance with those of typical Indarctos oregonensis, but has distinctly more slender postcranial bones. Indarctos from other localities of North America contains two morphs with regards to postcranial robustness, but lacks a clear geographic pattern. Indarctos from Withlacoochee River 4A shares traits with the Old World Indarctos zdanskyi and may be its descendant in the New World. The machairodont from Withlacoochee River 4A shows typical characters (e.g., presence of distinct P4 preparastyle and mandibular flange) that allow referral to Amphimachairodus rather than to Nimravides. Its morphology also shows a stronger affinity of this population to the Old World Amphimachairodus horribilis rather than to Hh3 Amphimachairodus coloradensis. Previously, most North American records of Amphimachairodus were late Hemphillian (Hh3–4, ~ 6.5–4.5 Ma), when it co-occurred with a different ursid, “Agriotherium.” The Withlacoochee River 4A specimens provide evidence that Amphimachairodus dispersed from Asia during the Hh2. The special morphology of Indarctos and the presence of Amphimachairodus in a Hh2 fauna suggest that the environment had begun to change before the significant fauna turnover between the early and late Hemphillian.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available in the text and appendix.
References
Antón M, Salesa MJ, Siliceo G (2013) Machairodont adaptations and affinities of the Holarctic late Miocene homotherin Machairodus (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae): the case of Machairodus catocopis Cope, 1887. J Vertebr Paleontol 33(5):1202-1213
Baryshnikov G (2007) Fauna of Russia and Neighbouring Countries. Mammals. Ursidae. Nauka, Saint Petersburg
Batsch AJGC (1788) Versuch einer Anleitung, zur Kenntniß und Geschichte der Thiere und Mineralien, für akademische Vorlesungen entworfen, und mit den nöthigsten Abbildungen versehen. Akademische Buchhandlung, Jena
Becker JJ (1985) Fossil herons (Aves: Areidae) of the late Miocene and early Pliocene of Florida. J Vertebr Paleontol 5:24-31
Berta A, Morgan GS (1985) A new sea otter (Carnivora: Mustelidae) from the late Miocene and early Pliocene (Hemphillian) of North America. J Paleontol 59:809-819
Bowdich TE (1821) An Analysis of the Natural Classification of Mammalia, for Use of Students and Travelers. J. Smith, Paris
Cerling TE, Harris JM, MacFadden BJ, Leakey MG, Quade J, Eisenmann V, Ehleringer JR (1997) Global vegetation change through the Miocene/Pliocene boundary. Nature 389(6647) 153-158
Cope ED (1887) A saber-tooth tiger from the Loup Fork beds. Am Nat 21:1019-1020
Crusafont PM, Kurtén B (1976) Bears and bear-dogs from the Vallesian of the Vallés-Penedés basin, Spain. Acta Zool Fennica 144:1-30
Dalquest WW (1969) Pliocene carnivores of the Coffee Ranch (Type Hemphill) Local Fauna. Bull Tex Mem Mus 15:1–44
Fischer [de Waldheim] G (1817) Adversaria Zoologica. Memories de la Societe Imperiale des Naturalistes de l'Universite Imperiale de Moscou 5:368–428
Geraads D, Kaya T, Tuna V (2004) A skull of Machairodus giganteus (Felidae, Mammalia) from the late Miocene of Turkey. Neues Jahrb Geol Paläontol Monatsh 2(2):95-110
Grevé C (1894) Die Geographische Verbreitúng der jetzt lebenden Raubthiere. Nova Acta der Ksl. Leop.-Carol. Deutchen Akademie der Naturforscher 73:1-280
Hulbert RC Jr (1987) Late Neogene Neohipparion (Mammalia, Equidae) from the Gulf Coastal Plain of Florida and Texas. J Paleontol 61:809–830
Hulbert RC Jr (1988a) Calippus and Protohippus (Mammalia, Perissodactyla, Equidae) from the Miocene (Barstovian-early Hemphillian) of the Gulf Coastal Plain. Bull Fla State Mus 32:221–340
Hulbert RC Jr (1988b) Cormohipparion and Hipparion (Mammalia, Perissodactyla, Equidae) from the Late Neogene of Florida. Bull Fla State Mus 33:229–338
Hulbert RC Jr (1993) Taxonomic evolution in North American Neogene horses (subfamily Equinae): the rise and fall of an adaptive radiation. Paleobiology 19:216–234
Hulbert RC Jr, Berta A, Baskin JA, Ray CE, Tessman N (2001) Mammalia 3, carnivorans. In Hulbert RC Jr (ed.) The Fossil Vertebrates of Florida. University Press of Florida, Gainesville pp 188–225
Hunt RM Jr (1998) Ursidae. In: Janis CM, Scott KM, Jacobs LL (eds) Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America, Vol. 1: Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulatelike Mammals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 174–195
Hunt RM Jr (2004) Chapter 11: Global climate and the evolution of large mammalian carnivores during the later Cenozoic in North America. Bull Am Mus Nat Hist 285:139–156
Jiangzuo QG, Liu J, Chen J (2019) Morphological homology, evolution and proposed nomenclature for bear dentition. Acta Palaeontol Pol 64(4):693-710
Jiangzuo QG, Wagner J, Chen J, Dong C, Wei J, Ning J, Liu J (2018) Presence of the middle Pleistocene cave bears in China confirmed – Evidence from Zhoukoudian area. Quaternary Sci Rev 199:1–17
Jiangzuo QG, Yu C, Flynn JJ (2019) Indarctos and other Caniformia fossils of GE Lewis’ YPM collection from the Siwaliks. Hist Biol. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2019.1648449
Kretzoi M (1929) Materialen zur phylogenetischen Klassifikation der Aeluroideen. Congr Zool Budapest 10:1293-1355
López DAG, Ortiz PE, Jaén MCM, Moyano MS (2008) First record of Arctotherium (Ursidae, Tremarctinae) in northwestern Argentina and its paleobiogeographic significance. J Vertebr Paleontol 28(4):1232-1237
MacDonald JR (1959) The middle Pliocene mammalian fauna from Smiths Valley, Nevada. J Paleontol 33(5):872-887
MacFadden B, Webb S (1982) The succession of Miocene (Arikareean through Hemphillian) terrestrial mammalian localities and faunas in Florida. In: Scott T, Upchurch SB (eds) Miocene of the Southeastern United States. Florida Department of Natural Resources, Division of Resource Management, Bureau of Geology, Tallahassee, pp 186–199
Martin LD, Schultz CB (1975) Scimitar-toothed cats, Machairodus and Nimravides, from the Pliocene of Nebraska and Kansas. Bull Univ Neb State Mus 10:55–63
Martin LD (1998) Felidae. In: Janis CM, Scott KM, Jacobs LL (eds) Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America, Vol. 1: Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulatelike Mammals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 236–242
Merriam JC, Stock C (1927) A hyaenarctid bear from the later Tertiary of the John Day Basin of Oregon. Publ Carnegie Inst Washington 346:39-44
Merriam JC, Stock C, Moody CL (1916) An American Pliocene bear. Univ Calif Publ Bull Dept Geol Sci 10:87–109
Pilgrim GE (1913) Correlation of the Siwaliks with mammal horizons of Europe. Rec Geol Surv India 43: 1–264
Qiu ZX (2003) Dispersals of Neogene carnivorans between Asia and North America. Bull Am Mus Nat Hist 279:18-31
Qiu ZX, Deng T, Wang BY(2014) A late Miocene Ursavus skull from Guanghe, Gansu, China. Vertebr PalAsiat 52(3):265–302
Qiu ZX, Shi QQ, Liu JY (2008) Description of skull material of Machairodus horribilis Schlosser, 1903. Vertebr PalAsiat 46:265-283
Qiu ZX, Tedford RH (2003) A new species of Indarctos from Baode, China. Vertebr PalAsiat 41(4):278-288
R Development Core Team (2016) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna
Rabeder G (1999) Die Evolution des Höhlenbärengebisses. Mitteilung der Kommission für Quartärforschung der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 11:1-102
Ruiz-Ramoni D, Rincón AD, Montellano-Ballesteros M (2019) Taxonomic revision of a Machairodontinae (Felidae) from the Late Hemphillian of México. Hist Biol. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2019.1583750
Schultz CB, Martin LD (1975) Bears (Ursidae) from the late Cenozoic of Nebraska. Bull Univ Neb State Mus 10(1):47-54
Sotnikova M (1991) A new species of Machairodus from the late Miocene Kalmakpai locality in eastern Kazakhstan (USSR). Ann Zool Fennici 28:361-369
Tedford RH, Albright LB III, Barnoskey AD, Ferrusquia-Villafranca I, Hunt RM Jr, Storer JE, Swisher CC III, Voorhies MR, Webb SD, Whistler DP (2004) Mammalian biochronology of the Arikareean through Hemphillian interval (late Oligocene through early Pliocene epochs). In: Woodburne M (ed) Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic Mammals of North America: Biostratigraphy and Geochronology. Columbia University Press, New York, pp 169–231
Tedford RH, Skinner MF, Fields RW, Rensberger JM, Whistler DP, Galusha T, Taylor BE, Macdonald JR, Webb SD (1987) Faunal succession and biochronology of the Arikareean through Hemphillian interval (late Oligocene through earliest Pliocene epochs) in North America. In: Woodburne MO (ed), Cenozoic Mammals of North America: Geochronology and Biostratigraphy. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp 153–210
Tedford RH, Wang X, Taylor BE (2009) Phylogenetic systematics of the North American fossil Caninae (Carnivora: Canidae). Bull Am Mus Nat Hist 325:1-218
Wang X, Tedford RH, Taylor BE (1999) Phylogenetic systematics of the Borophaginae (Carnivora: Canidae). Bull Am Mus Nat Hist 243:1-391
Webb SD (1969) The Pliocene Canidae of Florida: Bull Fla State Mus 14:273-308
Wickham H (2016) ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis. Springer, New York
Wolff R (1978) Function and phylogenetic significance of cranial anatomy of an early bear (Indarctos) from Pliocene sediments of Florida. Carnivore (3/4):1–12
Zachos J, Pagani M, Sloan L, Thomas E, Billups K (2001) Trends, rhythms, and aberrations in global climate 65 Ma to present. Science 292(5517):686-693
Zdansky O (1924) Jungtertiäre Carnivoren Chinas. Paleontol Sinica Ser C 2:1–149
Acknowledgments
We thank B. MacFadden and J. Bloch for their help in accessing the UF fossil collections. The following curators and collections staff allowed QJ to study fossil and modern carnivores in their collections: J. Meng, R. O’Leary, J. Galkin, M. Surovy, E. Hoeger, and S. Ketelsen (AMNH); X. Wang and S. McLeod (LACM); P. Holroyd (UCMP) ; R. Secord, R. M. Hunt Jr and G. Corner (UNSM); A. Millhouse, D. Lunde and J. J. Ososky (USNM); and Z. Qiu and J. Chen, W. He, S. Chen for help in accessing fossil collections of the IVPP and HMV. The current work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB26000000, XDA20070203, and XDB31030106), Key Frontier Science Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant Nos. QYZDY-SSW-DQC-22 and GJHZ1885), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41430102, 41872001, 41872005 and 41772018), Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Grant (2019QZKK0705), student grant from Paleontological Society, travel grant of UF, China Scholarship Council, and Frick Fund, Division of Vertebrate Paleontology, AMNH.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Q.Jiangzuo and R. Hulbert wrote the main manuscript text. Q.Jiangzuo prepared the taxonomic part and R. Hulbert prepared the geological background and collection related issues. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing Interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jiangzuo, Q., Hulbert, R.C. Coexistence of Indarctos and Amphimachairodus (Carnivora) in the Late Early Hemphillian of Florida, North America. J Mammal Evol 28, 707–728 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-021-09546-9
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-021-09546-9