Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T01:19:54.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Amphibians and nonmarine turtles from the Miocene Calvert Formation of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia (USA)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Robert E. Weems  and
Reed A. George
Robert E. Weems
Affiliation:
Paleo Quest, 14243 Murphy Terrace, Gainesville, VA 20155, USA,
Reed A. George
Affiliation:
Paleo Quest, 14243 Murphy Terrace, Gainesville, VA 20155, USA,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two amphibian taxa are reported for the first time from the lower to middle Miocene shallow-marine Calvert Formation. These are Batrachosauroides aff. B. dissimulans (a large proteoid salamander) and cf. Notophthalmus robustus (a small newt). Four kinds of identifiable nonmarine turtles were reported previously from this formation. These are Bairdemys miocenica (a pleurodire), Kinosternon sp. (a musk turtle), Hesperotestudo ducateli and Hesperotestudo wilsoni (tortoises). Four additional taxa reported here are Chrysemys isoni n. sp. (a painted turtle), Trachemys sp. (a pond turtle), Floridemys hurdi n. sp. (a small tortoise), and Apalone lima (a softshell turtle). Most of these taxa are known from elsewhere in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains from New Jersey to Texas. The regional widespread occurrence of many of these taxa indicates that they represent a modestly diverse community of amphibians, fresh water turtles, and land turtles that were endemic to the Atlantic and Gulf coastal regions of the United States during the late early and early middle Miocene. Their pattern of distribution is similar to that of eastern American land mammals during this time interval, indicating that the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains of the southeastern United States then lay within a single climatic zone that constituted a distinctive and long-lived faunal province throughout the early and middle Miocene (Hemingfordian through Barstovian land mammal ages).

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 87 , Issue 4 , July 2013 , pp. 570 - 588
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agassiz, L. 1857. Contributions to the natural history of the United States of America. Vol. 1. Little, Brown, and Company, Boston, li+452 p.Google Scholar
Aiello, L. C. 2010. Five years of Homo floresiensis. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 142:167–179.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Albright, L. B. 1994. Lower vertebrates from an Arikareean (earliest Miocene) fauna near the Toledo Bend Dam, Newton County, Texas. Journal of Paleontology, 68:1131–1145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Auffenberg, W. 1958. A new family of Miocene salamanders from the Texas coastal plain. Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences, 21:169–176.Google Scholar
Auffenberg, W. 1963. The fossil testudinine turtles of Florida, genera Geochelone and Floridemys. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, 7:53–97.Google Scholar
Auffenberg, W. 1964. A new fossil tortoise from the Texas Miocene, with remarks on the probable geological history of tortoises in eastern U.S. Pearce-Sellards Series, 3:1–10.Google Scholar
Auffenberg, W. 1974. Checklist of fossil land tortoises (Testudinidae). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, 18:121–251.Google Scholar
Auffenberg, W. 1976. The genus Gopherus (Testudinidae): Pt. 1. Osteology and relationships of extant species. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, 20:47–110.Google Scholar
Bell, T. 1828. Characters of the order, families, and genera of the Testudinata. Zoological Journal, London, 3:513–616.Google Scholar
Bentley, C. C. and Knight, J. L. 1993. The oldest spotted turtle: Clemmys guttata (Testudines: Emydidae) from the late Pleistocene (Rancholabrean) Ardis local fauna, Dorchester County, South Carolina. South Carolina Geology, 36:59–63.Google Scholar
Bentley, C. C., Bourque, J. R., Schubert, B. W., and Mead, J. I. 2011. Turtles of the Mio-Pliocene Gray Fossil Site, northeastern Tennessee, p. 11–14. InSchubert, B. W. and Mead, J. I.(eds.), Gray Fossil Site: 10 Years of Research, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee.Google Scholar
Benton, M. J., Csiki, Z., Grigorescu, D., Redelstorff, R., Sander, P. M., Stein, K., and Weishampel, D. B. 2010. Dinosaurs and the island rule: The dwarfed dinosaurs from Hateg Island. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 293:438–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, C. T. and Lynn, W. G. 1936. A new turtle, Peritresius virginianus, from the Miocene of Virginia. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 76:175–190.Google Scholar
Böhme, M. 2003. The Miocene climatic optimum: Evidence from ectothermic vertebrates of Central Europe. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 195:389–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourque, J. R. 2012. Fossil Kinosternidae from the Oligocene and Miocene of Florida, U.S.A., p. 459–475. InBrinkman, D. B., Holroyd, P., and Gardner, J.(eds.), Morphology and evolution of turtles. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series, Springer.Google Scholar
Bryant, J. D. 1991. New early Barstovian (middle Miocene) vertebrates from the upper Torreya Formation, eastern Florida panhandle. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 11:472–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chesi, F., Delfino, M., Varola, A., and Rook, L. 2007. Fossil sea turtles (Chelonii, Dermochelyidae and Cheloniidae) from the Miocene of Pietra Leccese (late Burdigalian-early Messinian), Southern Italy. Geodiversitas, 29:321–333.Google Scholar
Collins, R. L. and Lynn, W. G. 1936. Fossil turtles from Maryland. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 76:151–173.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1867. An addition to the vertebrate fauna of the Miocene Period, with a synopsis of the extinct Cetacea of the United States. Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, 19:138–156.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1868. On the origin of genera. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 20:242–300.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1869. Synopsis of the extinct batrachia, reptiles, and aves of North America. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 14:1–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1896. Sixth contribution to the knowledge of the marine Miocene fauna of North America. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 35:139.Google Scholar
Dobie, J. L. and Jackson, D. R. 1979. First fossil record for the diamondback terrapin, Malaclemys terrapin (Emydidae), and comments on the fossil record of Chrysemys nelsoni (Emydidae). Herpetologica, 35:139–145.Google Scholar
Emry, R. J. and Eshelman, R. E. 1998. The early Hemingfordian (early Miocene) Pollack Farm local fauna: First Tertiary land mammals described from Delaware, p. 153–174. InBenson, R. N.(ed.), Geology and Paleontology of the Lower Miocene Pollack Farm Fossil Site, Delaware. Delaware Geological Survey Special Publication 21.Google Scholar
Erickson, B. R. 1973. A new chelydrid turtle Protochelydra zangerli from the late Paleocene of North Dakota. Scientific Publications of the Science Museum of Minnesota, new series, 2:1–16.Google Scholar
Ernst, C. H. and Barbour, R. W. 1989. Turtles of the world. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 313p.Google Scholar
Estes, R. 1981. Gymnophiona, Caudata. InWellnhofer, P.(ed.), Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology, Vol. 2, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, 115p.Google Scholar
Fitzinger, L. J. F. J. 1826. Neue classification der reptilien nach ihren natürlichen verwandtschaften. Nebst einer verwandtschafts-tafel und einem verzeichnisse der reptilien-sammlung des K. K. zoologischen museum's zu Wien. J. G. Hübner, Vienna, vii+66 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forman, R. 1998. Pine Barrens: Ecosystem and Landscape. Rutgers University Press, New Jersey, 601p.Google Scholar
Gaffney, E.S. and Meylan, P.A. 1988. A phylogeny of turtles, p. 157–219. InBenton, M. J.(ed.), The Phylogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods, Vol. 1. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Gauthier, J. A., Kluge, A. G., and Rowe, T. 1988. The early evolution of the Amniota, p. 103–154. InBenton, M. J.(ed.), The Phylogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods, vol. 1, Amphibians, Reptiles, and Birds. The Systematics Association Special Volume 35A, Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Gibson, T. G. 1983. Stratigraphy of Miocene through lower Pleistocene strata of the United States central Atlantic Coastal Plain. InRay, C. E.(ed.), Geology and Paleontology of the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina: I. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, 53:35–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, J. E. 1825. A synopsis of the genera of saurian reptiles and Amphibia, with a description of some new species of reptiles. Annals of Philosophy, 10:193–217.Google Scholar
Gray, J. E. 1844. Catalogue of the tortoises, crocodiles, and amphisbaenians in the Collection of the British Museum. British Museum (Natural History), London, 80p.Google Scholar
Gray, J. E. 1873. Observations on chelonians, with descriptions of new genera and species. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, London, 4th series, 11:289–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groot, J. J. 1998. Palynomorphs from the lower Miocene Pollack Farm site, Delaware. InBenson, R. N.(ed.), Geology and Paleontology of the Lower Miocene Pollack Farm Fossil Site, Delaware. Delaware Geological Survey Special Publication, 21:55–58.Google Scholar
Hay, O. P. 1892. The batrachians and reptiles of the state of Indiana. Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources Annual Report for 1891, p. 409–610.Google Scholar
Hay, O. P. 1907. Descriptions of new species of turtles of the genus Testudo, collected from the Miocene by the Carnegie Museum; together with a description of the skull of Stylemys nebrascensis. Annals of the Carnegie Museum, 4:15–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hay, O. P. 1908. Fossil Turtles of North America. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 75, 568 p., 113 pls.Google Scholar
Hay, O. P. 1916. Descriptions of some Floridian fossil vertebrates belonging mostly to the Pleistocene. Florida Geological Survey Annual Report, 8:39–76.Google Scholar
Holman, J. A. 1977. Amphibians and Reptiles from the Gulf Coast Miocene of Texas. Herpetologica, 33:391–403.Google Scholar
Holman, J. A. 1995. A new species of Emydoidea (Reptilia: Testudines) from the late Barstovian (medial Miocene) of Cherry County, Nebraska. Journal of Herpetology 29:548–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holman, J. A. 1998. Reptiles of the lower Miocene (Hemingfordian) Pollack Farm Fossil Site, Delaware. InBenson, R. N.(ed.), Geology and Paleontology of the Lower Miocene Pollack Farm Fossil Site, Delaware. Delaware Geological Survey Special Publication, 21:141–147.Google Scholar
Hulbert, R. C. Jr., 2001. The fossil vertebrates of Florida. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, 368p.Google Scholar
Hutchison, J. H. and Weems, R. E. 1999. Paleocene turtle remains from South Carolina. InSanders, A. E.(ed.), Paleobiology of the Williamsburg Formation (Black Mingo Group; Paleocene) of South Carolina, U. S. A. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 88:165–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lapparent De Broin, F. De. 2001. The European turtle fauna from the Triassic to the present. Dumerilia, 4:155–218.Google Scholar
Laurenti, J. N. 1768. Specimen medicum, exhibens synopsin reptilium emendatem cum experimentis circa venena et antidota reptilium Austrazcorm. A. Asher, Amsterdam, 214p.Google Scholar
Le, M., Raxworthy, C. J., McCord, W. P., and Mertz, L. 2006. A molecular phylogeny of tortoises (Testudines: Testudinidae) based on mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 40:517–531.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leidy, J. P. 1851. (Several fossils from the Greensand of New Jersey). Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 5:329–330.Google Scholar
Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species cum characeribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm, 1, 824p.Google Scholar
Mertens, R. and Wermuth, H. 1955. Die rezenten Schildkröten, Krokodile und Brükenechsen. Zoologische Jahrbücher, Abteilung Sytematik, 83:323–440.Google Scholar
Meyer, H. Von. 1843. Mittheilungen an Prof. Bronn gerichtet. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geognosie, Geologie und Petrefaktenkunden, 1843:698–704.Google Scholar
Meylan, P.A. 1987. The phylogenetic relationships of soft-shelled turtles (family Trionychidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 186:1–101.Google Scholar
Meylan, P. A. and Sterrer, W. 2000. Hesperotestudo (Testudines: Testudinidae) from the Pleistocene of Bermuda, with comments on the phylogenetic position of the genus. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 128:51–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noble, G. K. 1931. The Biology of the Amphibia. McGraw-Hill, New York, 577p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oppel, M. 1811. Die Ordung, Familien und Gattungen der Reptilien, als Prodrom einer Natureschichte derselben. Lindauer, Munich, 87p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmer, W. 1909. Description of a new species of leatherback turtle from the Miocene of Maryland. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 36:369–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poulakakis, N., Parmakelis, P., Lymberakis, P., Mylonas, M., Zouros, E., Reese, D. S., Glaberman, S., and Caccone, A. 2006. Ancient DNA forces reconsideration of evolutionary history of Mediterranean pygmy elephantids. Biology Letters, 2:451–454.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Powars, D. S. and Bruce, T. S. 1999. The effects of the Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater on the geological framework and correlation of hydrogeologic units of the lower York-James Peninsula, Virginia. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1612:1–82.Google Scholar
Preston, R. E. 1979. Late Pleistocene cold-blooded vertebrate faunas from the mid-continental United States, 1. Reptilia: Testudines, Crocodilia. University of Michigan Papers on Paleontology, 19:1–53.Google Scholar
Rafinesque, C. S. 1820. Annals of Nature or annual synopsis of new genera and species of animals, plants, etc. discovered in North America. Thomas Smith, Lexington, Kentucky, 16p.Google Scholar
Rafinesque, C. S. 1832. Description of two new genera of soft shell turtles of North America. Atlantic Journal and Friend of Knowledge, 1:64–65.Google Scholar
Reilly, S. M. 1990. Biochemical systematics and evolution of the eastern North American newts, genus Notophthalmus (Caudata: Salamandridae). Herpetologica, 46:51–59.Google Scholar
Spix, J. B. Von. 1824. Animalia nova sive species novae testudinum et ranarum: Quas in itinere per Brasiliam annis 1817–1820 jussu et auspicious Maximiliani Josephi I, Bavariae Regis Suscepto. F. S. Monachii, Hübschmanni, 53 p., 22 pls.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, E. and Hesse, C. 1943. A new salamander from the upper Miocene beds of San Jacinto County, Texas. American Journal of Science, 241:185–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weems, R. E. 1974. Middle Miocene sea turtles (Syllomus, Procolpochelys, Psephophorus) from the Calvert Formation. Journal of Paleontology, 48:278–303.Google Scholar
Weems, R. E. and Knight, J. L. 2012. A new species of Bairdemys (Pelomedusoides: Podocnemididae) from the Oligocene (early Chattian) Chandler Bridge Formation of South Carolina, U.S.A., and its paleobiogeographic implications for the genus, p. 289–303. InBrinkman, D. B., Holroyd, P., and Gardner, J.(eds.), Morphology and evolution of turtles. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series, Springer.Google Scholar
Weems, R. E. and Sanders, A. E. 1986. The Chandler Bridge Formation (upper Oligocene) in the Charleston region, South Carolina. InNeathery, T. L.(ed.), Geological Society of America Centennial Field Guide (Southeastern Section), 6:323–326.Google Scholar
Williams, E. E. 1950. Testudo cubensis and the evolution of Western Hemisphere tortoises. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 91:1–36.Google Scholar
Williams, E. E. 1953. A new fossil tortoise from the Thomas Farm Miocene of Florida. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 107:537–554.Google Scholar
Wolfe, J. A. 1994. Tertiary climate changes at middle latitudes of western North America. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 108:195–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zachos, J., Pagani, M., Sloan, L., Thomas, E., and Billups, K. 2001. Trends, rhythms, and aberrations in global climate 65 Ma to present. Science, 292:686–693.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zug, G. R. 2001. Turtles of the Lee Cree Mine (Pliocene: North Carolina). InRay, C. E. and Bohaska, D. J.(eds.), Geology and Paleontology of the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina. III. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, 9:203–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar