A LATE PLEISTOCENE (SANGAMONIAN) VERTEBRATE FAUNA FROM EASTERN TEXAS

摘要

The Iron Bridge local fauna is the seventh assemblage of fossil vertebrates of Sangamonian age thus far recognized in Texas. These fossils were collected over 30 years ago from an area now inundated by Lake Tawakoni in Rains County in northeast Texas. A minimum of 13 vertebrate taxa are present in the assemblage including one piscine, two reptilian, and 10 mammalian species. Most notable in the collection is a nearly complete cranium of the extinct Shuler's pronghorn antelope Tetrameryx shuleri. Taphonomic analysis suggests that the fossil assemblage accumulated within an active meandering stream via attritional means. An environmental reconstruction based upon the inferred ecologic and dietary preferences of the taxa reveals three presumably contemporaneous habitats: a permanent stream, grassland, and parkland.