Two new carnivores from an unusual late Tertiary forest biota in eastern North America (original) (raw)

Nature volume 431, pages 556–559 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Late Cenozoic terrestrial fossil records of North America are biased by a predominance of mid-latitude deposits, mostly in the western half of the continent. Consequently, the biological history of eastern North America, including the eastern deciduous forest, remains largely hidden. Unfortunately, vertebrate fossil sites from this vast region are rare1,2, and few pertain to the critically important late Tertiary period, during which intensified global climatic changes took place3,4. Moreover, strong phylogenetic affinities between the flora of eastern North America and eastern Asia clearly demonstrate formerly contiguous connections, but disparity among shared genera (eastern Asia–eastern North America disjunction) implies significant periods of separation since at least the Miocene epoch1,2. Lacustrine sediments deposited within a former sinkhole in the southern Appalachian Mountains provide a rare example of a late Miocene to early Pliocene terrestrial biota from a forested ecosystem5. Here we show that the vertebrate remains contained within this deposit represent a unique combination of North American and Eurasian taxa. A new genus and species of the red (lesser) panda (Pristinailurus bristoli), the earliest and most primitive so far known, was recovered. Also among the fauna are a new species of Eurasian badger (Arctomeles dimolodontus) and the largest concentration of fossil tapirs ever recorded. Cladistical analyses of the two new carnivores strongly suggest immigration events that were earlier than and distinct from previous records6,7, and that the close faunal affinities between eastern North America and eastern Asia in the late Tertiary period are consistent with the contemporaneous botanical record8,9.

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Acknowledgements

S.C.W. wishes to thank former Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist for protecting the fossil deposit and awarding significant funds for its preservation and study; the Tennessee Department of Transportation, East Tennessee State University, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, and the College of Arts and Sciences for their continuing support of this project; and Larry Bristol for discovering the Pristinailurus M1 and bringing it to my attention. X.W. wishes to acknowledge the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society for support in comparative studies.

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  1. Department of Physics, Astronomy, and Geology, East Tennessee State University, Box 70636, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37614, USA
    Steven C. Wallace
  2. Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, California, 90007, Los Angeles, USA
    Xiaoming Wang

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  1. Steven C. Wallace
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  2. Xiaoming Wang
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Correspondence toXiaoming Wang.

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Wallace, S., Wang, X. Two new carnivores from an unusual late Tertiary forest biota in eastern North America.Nature 431, 556–559 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02819

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