Tremarctos floridanus
Temporal range: Pleistocene
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T. floridanus skeleton
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Tremarctos
Species:
†T. floridanus
Binomial name
†Tremarctos floridanus
(Gidley, 1928)
Synonyms

Arctodus floridanus Gidley, 1928

Tremarctos floridanus, occasionally called the Florida spectacled bear, Florida cave bear, or rarely Florida short-faced bear, is an extinct species of bear in the family Ursidae, subfamily Tremarctinae. T. floridanus was widespread in the Southeastern United States during the Rancholabrean epoch (250,000–11,000 years ago), with scattered reports of fossils from other parts of North America and from earlier epochs.

Environment

T. floridanus was widely distributed south of the continental ice sheet, along the Gulf Coast through Florida, north to Tennessee and South Carolina during the Rancholabrean epoch (250,000–11,000 years ago). A few fossil specimens have been reported from the Irvingtonian (2.5 million–250,000 years ago) and Blancan (4.75–1.8 million years ago) epochs in western North America,[1] although western specimens disappear in the Rancholabrean.[2] Fossils of T. floridanus have been reported from two sites in Belize.[3][4]

Arctodus (3 million–11,000 years ago) was a contemporary and shared its habitat with T. floridanus. The closest living relative of the Florida cave bear is the spectacled bear of South America; they are classified together with the huge short-faced bears in the subfamily Tremarctinae. They became extinct at the end of the last ice age, 10,000 years ago (possibly as late as 8,000 years ago at Devil's Den in Florida).[5]

Taxonomy

Originally, Gidley named this animal Arctodus floridanus in 1928. It was recombined as T. floridanus by Kurten (1963), Lundelius (1972) and Kurten and Anderson (1980).[6][7] The type specimen was found in the Golf Course site of the Melbourne Bone Bed in Melbourne, Florida.[1]

Fossil distribution

Sites:

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Harrington, Arianna (April 10, 2015). "Tremarctos floridanus". Florida Museum (University of Florida). Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  2. ^ Lucas, Spencer G.; Sullivan, Robert M. Vertebrate Paleontology in New Mexico: Bulletin 68. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.
  3. ^ a b Czaplewski, Nicolas J.; Krejca, Jean; Miller, Thomas E. (2003). "Late Quaternary Bats from Cebada Cave, Chiquibul Cave System,Belize" (PDF). Caribbean Journal of Science. 39: 23 – via Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education.
  4. ^ a b Churcher, C. S. (March 2020). "Pleistocene mammals from Extinction Cave, Belize". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 57 (3): 366–376. Bibcode:2020CaJES..57..366C. doi:10.1139/cjes-2018-0178. S2CID 182629185.
  5. ^ Kurtén and Anderson: 56, 178-79
  6. ^ E. L. Lundelius. 1972. Bureau of Economic Geology Report of Investigations 77.
  7. ^ Kurtén and Anderson: 178-80
  8. ^ a b c "Tremarctos floridanus-Florida spectacled bear". UTEP Biodiversity Collections. 3 April 2013. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  9. ^ Carr, Robert S. (2012). Digging Miami. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-8130-4206-0.
  10. ^ Purdy, Barbara A. (2008). Florida's People During the Last Ice Age. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-3204-7.
  11. ^ a b c Sanders, Albert E. (2002). "Additions to the Pleistocene Mammal Faunas of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 92, Part 5: 33–40. ISBN 9780871699251 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ Kurtén, Björn (June 1, 1963). "Fossil Bears from Texas" (PDF). The Pearce-Sellard Series (1): 13 – via University of Texas Libraries.
  13. ^ "Tremarctos sp., Bear tooth". The Charleston Museum. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
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