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First Mio-Pliocene Salamander Fossil Assemblage from the Southern Appalachians

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First Mio-Pliocene Salamander Fossil Assemblage from the Southern Appalachians Palaeontologia Electronica http://palaeo-electronica.org First Mio-Pliocene salamander fossil assemblage from the southern Appalachians Grant S. Boardman and Blaine W. Schubert ABSTRACT The Gray Fossil Site (GFS) of northeastern Tennessee has yielded a diverse sala- mander fossil assemblage for the southern Appalachian Mio-Pliocene. This assem- blage includes at least five taxa (Ambsytoma sp.; Plethodon sp., Spelerpinae, gen. et sp. indet., Desmognathus sp.; and Notophthalmus sp.) from three families (Ambystom- atidae, Plethodontidae, and Salamandridae, respectively). All taxa are present in the area today and support a woodland-pond interpretation of the site. Reported speci- mens represent the earliest record of their families in the Appalachian Mountains (and the earliest record of Plethodontidae and Ambystomatidae east of the Mississippi River); with the Notophthalmus sp. vertebrae being the only Mio-Pliocene body fossil known for the Salamandridae in North America. The Desmognathus sp. specimens may help shed light on the evolutionary origins of the genus Desmognathus, which pur- portedly has its roots in this region during the Mio-Pliocene. Grant S. Boardman. Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68588, USA and Don Sundquist Center of Excellence in Paleontology, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37614, USA [email protected] Blaine W. Schubert. Department of Geosciences and Don Sundquist Center of Excellence in Paleontology, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37614, USA [email protected] KEYWORDS: Mio-Pliocene; Gray Fossil Site; Caudata; Appalachian; salamanders INTRODUCTION of Texas (Parmley 1989) and A. kansense, a neo- tenic form, from Edson Quarry, Kansas (Holman Three salamander families are reported from 2006). The Mio-Pliocene fossil record of the the Mio-Pliocene Gray Fossil Site (GFS), Washing- Plethodontidae is nearly exclusive to California ton County, Tennessee (Figure 1): Ambystomati- with tracks and vertebrae from Batrachoseps found dae, Plethodontidae, and Salamandridae. in the Pinhole Tuff, Mehrten Formation (Clark Ambystomatidae have perhaps the best fossil 1985; Holman 2006) and an otic bone of Aneides record in the Mio-Pliocene of the three families lugubris from Turlock Site 5 (Clark 1985). Up to this present at the GFS, with vertebrae of Ambystoma point only two Mio-Pliocene records of the family cf. A. minshalli from the Coffee Ranch Local Fauna PE Article Number: 14.2.16A Copyright: Society for Vertebrate Paleontology July 2011 Submission: 22 October 2010. Acceptance: 18 April 2011 Boardman, Grant S. and Schubert, Blaine W. 2011. First Mio-Pliocene salamander fauna from the southern Appalachians. Palaeontologia Electronica Vol. 14, Issue 2; 16A:19p; palaeo-electronica.org/2011_2/257/index.html BOARDMAN AND SCHUBERT: MIO-PLIOCENE SALAMANDERS in the southern Appalachians and add to the extent of the fossil record for salamanders in southeast- ern North America. The primary objectives of this report are to 1) identify salamander fossils from the GFS to family, subfamily or type, and genus by comparing them with skeletons of modern species from all extant families and published characters, 2) draw paleoecological inferences about the GFS (beyond those of Schubert 2006, and Schubert and Wallace 2006) based on physiological parameters FIGURE 1. Location of the Gray Fossil Site, Tennessee, and habitat preference of modern analogs through USA. From DeSantis and Wallace (2008). phylogenetic bracketing, and 3) further elucidate the evolutionary and biogeographic history of sala- mander clades in eastern North America. This have been reported east of the Rockies, a single paper represents a revised version of Boardman 'Plethodon-like' trunk vertebra from Coffee Ranch, (2009). Texas (Parmley 1989) and indeterminate plethodontid material from the Pipe Creek Sinkhole MATERIALS AND METHODS of Indiana (Farlow et al. 2001). The family Sala- mandridae has no skeletal fossil record in the Mio- Fossil Collection and Identification Pliocene of North America, but is represented by a Vertebrate microfossil remains were collected trackway in Kansas referred to Taricha sp. (Holman by water screening matrix from various test pits at 2006). the GFS using 1.7 mm mesh box screens. GFS is the only Mio-Pliocene fossil site in the Screened residue was then picked under a dissect- Appalachian region, providing a unique look at a ing microscope, and remains were sorted by class diverse salamander assemblage in an upland envi- and order. Preliminary identification of the sala- ronment. The fossil site covers roughly 1.8-2.0 ha, mander fossils was done by comparison under a and fossiliferous sediments are as thick as 39 m light microscope with modern specimens housed (Wallace and Wang 2004; Nave et al. 2005). The and/or on loan at East Tennessee State University. site is composed of finely laminated clays, silts, Though salamander cranial and postcranial materi- and fine sands intermixed with isolated gravel als are known from the GFS, they are exceedingly lenses as the result of a small lake or pond filling a rare and difficult to identify below family level; so paleosinkhole within the Cambrian/Ordovician vertebrae are used exclusively for identification Knox Group Dolostone (Wallace and Wang 2004; purposes in this study. Shunk et al. 2006; DeSantis and Wallace 2008; Identification of fossil salamander skeletal ele- Hulbert et al. 2009). Weathering and erosion of the ments is complicated by the overall simplicity of bedrock subsequent to the infilling has generated a salamander bones in general, phylogenetic/onto- reversed topography, leaving the fossil site as a genetic variation, and similarity between unrelated high point (Wallace and Wang 2004; Shunk et al. taxa. The inferred age of the GFS (about 4.5 – 7 2006). The date of the GFS is inferred to be about m.y.a.), and lack of specific morphological charac- 4.5 – 7 m.y.a. based on the co-occurrence of the ters, makes species attribution based on vertebrae rhinoceros Teleoceras and the tremarctine bear seemingly implausible. For these reasons fossil Plionarctos (Wallace and Wang 2004). The bulk of taxa are identified to the level of genus where pos- the herpetofauna (including alligators, natricine sible. Because vertebrae are the most numerous snakes, aquatic testudines, anurans, and salaman- elements in the skeleton and the most represented ders) reflect a 'pond' environment (Schubert 2006; fossil element for this group at the GFS, special Schubert and Wallace 2006). As noted by Wallace attention was given to vertebral anatomy. Following and Wang (2004), Jiang and Liu (2008), and Liu the osteological scheme of Duellman and Trueb and Jacques (2010), abundant plant macrofossils (1994), the salamander vertebral column consists from Quercus (Oak) and Carya (Hickory), in the of five differentiated regions: cervical (consisting of form of leaves, acorns and nuts, and isotope work the atlas), trunk (containing a variable number of by DeSantis and Wallace (2008) indicate a forest vertebrae from 10 to 60 depending on genus or surrounded the 'pond'. species), sacrum (consisting of one sacral verte- Fossils from the GFS provide a unique oppor- bra), caudosacral (consisting of two to four verte- tunity to examine a Mio-Pliocene sinkhole deposit 2 PALAEO-ELECTRONICA.ORG brae), and caudal region (with a variable number of the only recovered elements identifiable beyond vertebrae from 20 to more than 100). GFS sala- ordinal level). Each fossil genus account includes a mander vertebrae were identified by comparing the breakdown of the identified vertebrae by position in fossil material with modern specimens from all the vertebral column, NIE, MNI, and remarks families and literature on various modern and fossil regarding the identification of these elements. Ana- taxa. Comparative specimens used for this analy- tomical terminology follows that of Duellman and sis were from the Carnegie Museum of Natural His- Trueb (1994), Miller (1992), and Holman (2006). tory (CMNH), University of California Museum of Classification used was that of Duellman and Vertebrate Zoology (UCMVZ), New Jersey State Trueb (1994), Larson et al. (2006), and Chippin- Museum (NJSM), Appalachian State University dale et al. (2004). (ASU), and from the East Tennessee State Univer- sity Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory (ETVP). SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY After preliminary examination of both modern Order CAUDATA Oppel, 1810 comparative and fossil specimens, and literature Suborder SALAMANDROIDEA Noble, 1931 regarding vertebral characters of extinct families (e.g., the Batrachosauroididae), it was clear that Family AMBYSTOMATIDAE Hallowell, 1856 none of the analyzed fossil specimens represented Genus AMBYSTOMA Tschudi, 1838 extinct families. Following this finding, two assump- tions are posited in regards to identity of GFS The family Ambystomatidae is comprised of specimens: 1) specimens represent extant families one genus, Ambystoma, and approximately 32 (i.e., no Batrachosauroididae), and 2) the presence species (AmphibiaWeb 2011). Ambystomatids are of spinal nerve foramina posterior to the transverse restricted to North America, being found from processes in examined fossil trunk vertebrae lim- Alaska to Mexico, and most are moderately large ited identifications to members of the extant fami- terrestrial salamanders with lungs (Petranka 1998). lies Ambystomatidae, Plethodontidae, Terrestrial species are
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