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A New Species of Teleoceras from the Late Miocene Gray Fossil Site, with Comparisons to Other North American Hemphillian Species Rachel A

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A New Species of Teleoceras from the Late Miocene Gray Fossil Site, with Comparisons to Other North American Hemphillian Species Rachel A East Tennessee State University Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University Electronic Theses and Dissertations Student Works 5-2013 A New Species of Teleoceras from the Late Miocene Gray Fossil Site, with Comparisons to Other North American Hemphillian Species Rachel A. Short East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd Part of the Paleobiology Commons Recommended Citation Short, Rachel A., "A New Species of Teleoceras from the Late Miocene Gray Fossil Site, with Comparisons to Other North American Hemphillian Species" (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1143. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1143 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A New Species of Teleoceras from the Late Miocene Gray Fossil Site, with Comparisons to Other North American Hemphillian Species A thesis presented to the faculty of the Department of Geosciences East Tennessee State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science in Geosciences by Rachel A. Short May 2013 Steven C. Wallace, chair Blaine W. Schubert Jim I. Mead Keywords: Gray Fossil Site, Teleoceras, Morphology, Post-cranial 1 ABSTRACT A New Species of Teleoceras from the Late Miocene Gray Fossil Site, with Comparisons to Other North American Hemphillian Species by Rachel A. Short A thorough morphological description of Teleoceras material from the Gray Fossil Site, Gray, Tennessee is provided. This is the only record of a browsing Teleoceras and, as a late Hemphillian locality, represents 1 of the youngest populations. Linear measurements of post- cranial elements indicate proportional differences between Teleoceras from the Gray Fossil Site and those from other Hemphillian localities. These differences are more pronounced in the elements of the forelimb than in those of the hind limb. Statistical analyses of post-cranial elements from 3 Hemphillian species of Teleoceras suggest that these differences should not be used to separate species. However, the elements do typically sort well by fossil locality, which suggests that post-cranial morphology is plastic enough to become modified within a population. Furthermore, dental morphology comparisons with the holotypes of these species indicate that the GFS rhino represents a previously undescribed species. 2 Copyright 2013 by Rachel A. Short All Rights Reserved 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee members, Drs. Steven Wallace, Blaine Schubert, and Jim Mead, for their help and encouragement along the way. A big thank you goes to Sandy Swift for always being available (and willing!) to reassure me. Thank you to all of the staff at the Gray Fossil Site, especially Brian Compton for making the excavation map for me, Shawn Haugrud for making the fossils look so wonderful, and Brett Woodward for access to specimens. I thank Jeff Supplee for always being interested in my work and providing an outlet for me to talk about it. I would also like to thank the following museum staffs for access to specimens and assistance with research: Drs. Richard Hulbert, Jr. and Jonathan Bloch (FLMNH); Charyl Ito and Kathy Hollis (NMNH); Judy Galkin, Ruth O’Leary, and Alana Gishlick (AMNH); Logan Ivy and Dr. Richard Stucky (DMNS); and Dr. Laura Wilson (SMNH). Also, this work would not have been possible without funding from the Center of Excellence in Paleontology and the Department of Geosciences at ETSU. I have to thank my fellow graduate students for making the past 2 years so much fun, especially Laura Gilmore who was the best thesis buddy ever! I must thank my family for supporting me and understanding my want to move so far away from home to study rhino fossils. Finally, I give an enormous thank you to Jeff Martin who put up with my craziness for the last year while I finished this project. I’ll return the favor next year! 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... 2 LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ 14 LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... 15 Chapter: 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 22 Review of Rhinocerotoidea and Teleoceras ......................................................... 24 Gray Fossil Site ..................................................................................................... 27 2. METHODS ................................................................................................................... 30 Morphology........................................................................................................... 30 Paleobiology ......................................................................................................... 32 Museums and Species ........................................................................................... 32 Post-Cranial Comparisons .................................................................................... 35 Age and Sexual Dimorphism .................................................................... 35 Measurements ........................................................................................... 36 Statistical Analyses ................................................................................... 37 Abbreviations ........................................................................................................ 38 Museums ................................................................................................... 38 Fossil Collections ...................................................................................... 38 5 Localities ................................................................................................... 39 3. TELEOCERAS OF THE GRAY FOSSIL SITE ........................................................... 40 Sex and Age of the Complete Skeletons ............................................................... 40 Skull ...................................................................................................................... 42 Cranium..................................................................................................... 44 Nasal. ............................................................................................ 44 Frontal. .......................................................................................... 45 Parietal. ......................................................................................... 47 Premaxilla. .................................................................................... 49 Maxilla. ......................................................................................... 51 Lacrimal. ....................................................................................... 53 Jugal. ............................................................................................. 54 Squamosal. .................................................................................... 56 Occipital. ....................................................................................... 58 Basicranium. ................................................................................. 60 Pterygoid. ...................................................................................... 62 Palatine. ......................................................................................... 62 Vomer. .......................................................................................... 63 Hyoid Apparatus. .......................................................................... 63 6 Mandible ................................................................................................... 64 Dentition ............................................................................................................... 67 Upper Dentition ........................................................................................ 67 Incisors. ......................................................................................... 67 Premolars. ..................................................................................... 67 Molars. .......................................................................................... 70 Lower Dentition ........................................................................................ 70 Incisors .......................................................................................... 71 Premolars. ..................................................................................... 72 Molars. .......................................................................................... 75 Vertebrae ............................................................................................................... 75 Cervical Vertebrae .................................................................................... 75 Atlas. ............................................................................................
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