Fort Hays State University FHSU Scholars Repository Master's Theses Graduate School Summer 2011 Mammalian Fauna From The ulF lerton Gravel Pit (Ogallala Group, Late Miocene), Morton County, Kansas Michael Anthony Calvello Fort Hays State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.fhsu.edu/theses Part of the Geology Commons Recommended Citation Calvello, Michael Anthony, "Mammalian Fauna From The ulF lerton Gravel Pit (Ogallala Group, Late Miocene), Morton County, Kansas" (2011). Master's Theses. 135. https://scholars.fhsu.edu/theses/135 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at FHSU Scholars Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of FHSU Scholars Repository. - MAMMALIAN FAUNA FROM THE FULLERTON GRAVEL PIT (OGALLALA GROUP, LATE MIOCENE), MORTON COUNTY, KANSAS being A Thesis Presented to the Graduate Faculty of the Fort Hays State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science by Michael Anthony Calvello B.A., State University of New York at Geneseo Date Z !J ~4r u I( Approved----c-~------------- Chair, Graduate Council Graduate Committee Approval The Graduate Committee of Michael A. Calvello hereby approves his thesis as meeting partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Science. Approved: )<--+-- ----+-G~IJCommittee Meilnber Approved: ~J, iii,,~ Committee Member 11 ABSTRACT The Fullerton Gravel Pit, Morton County, Kansas is one of many sites in western Kansas at which the Ogallala Group crops out. The Ogallala Group was deposited primarily by streams flowing from the Rocky Mountains. Evidence of water transport is observable at the Fullerton Gravel Pit through the presence of allochthonous clasts, cross-bedding, pebble alignment, and fossil breakage and subsequent rounding. Fluvial mechanisms also played an important role in the distribution of fossil material. When the fossils from the Fullerton Gravel Pit are placed in Voorhies Groups, it appears that a majority of them were removed from suspension gradually and transported through traction. This interaction created a distinct bias in the accumulation of specific specimens at the site. The identity of the mammalian taxa recovered from the Fullerton Gravel Pit was determined by comparison with previously identified specimens, as well as previously utilized comparative techniques. Camels are the majority of identifiable elements at the site. In particular, the medium-sized camel, Hemiauchenia is best represented. The canid, Osteoborus, proboscideans, such as gomphotherids, and perissodactyls, predominantly horses, are also present. Conspicuous by its absence, Teleoceras, a common Miocene rhinoceros, has yet to be discovered. The absence of Teleoceras may in part be due to channel velocity and depth. The presence of the canid Osteoborus restricts the Fullerton Gravel Pit to the Hemphillian age. The biochronologic range of the camels, Aepycamelus, Protolabis, and Procamelus end in the early Hemphillian, providing evidence restricting the Fullerton iii Gravel Pit to an early Hemphillian age. Of the horse species found at the site, only Neohipparion trampasense partitions the Hemphillian, being confined to the late Barstovian to early Hemphillian. The biostratigraphic range of these genera results in an assignment of the Fullerton Gravel Pit to an early Hemphillian age. Within the Equidae, hypsodont dentition and muzzle width indicate that horses were grazers. However, the varying degree of hypsodonty in the Camelidae indicates they were more diverse. Whereas, Hemiauchenia, exploited a grazing niche; others such as Procamelus occupied a browsing niche. Tooth condition and the percent δ 13C reinforce the interpretations obtained for camel feeding. Grazing and browsing niches are supported in a savanna-grassland environment. Grasses would have sustained the grazers, and intermittent trees and brush the browsers. This interpretation of the Fullerton Gravel Pit is in agreement with analyses describing the spread of the savanna-grassland landscape across North America during the Miocene. A number of factors influence fossil distribution at the Fullerton Gravel Pit. Niche specialization, fluvial filtering, and an evolving landscape each accounts for the abundance of camel material, as well as the distribution of other taxa. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I dedicate this work to my parents, for their commitment to my education and my growth as a person. Thank you for allowing me to pursue this unconventional dream, which I have had for as long as we all can remember. I thank my committee members, Drs. S. Christopher Bennett, Rob Channell, Greg H. Farley, and Kenneth R. Neuhauser, for their comments and contributions. I especially thank my committee chair and advisor Dr. Richard J. Zakrzewski, without whom, this study would not have been possible. I thank J. Seth Hammond, my field partner and guide to the extreme southwestern portions of Kansas. I also thank Dr. Richard J. Packauskas for his direction and critique on the figures. I thank Dr. Bruce A. Schumacher, for taking the time to show me the field site, as well as for donating a number of specimens from the area. I thank Mr. Joe Hartman of the USDA Forest Service, Cimarron National Grasslands, Elkhart, Kansas for his advocacy of research in vertebrate paleontology, the donation of fossils, and the use of a trailer. I also thank members of the Morton County Highway Department for donations of fossils. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................v TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ...............................................................................................................x LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xi INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 Location ...................................................................................................................2 PREVIOUS WORK .............................................................................................................2 METHODS ..........................................................................................................................3 Depositional Environment .......................................................................................4 Fossil Recovery ........................................................................................................4 Preparatory Processes ..............................................................................................5 Mammalian Identification ........................................................................................5 DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT ..................................................................................7 Lithologic Description .............................................................................................7 Interpretation ............................................................................................................9 SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY .................................................................................11 Class Mammalia.....................................................................................................11 Order Carnivora .........................................................................................11 Family Canidae ..............................................................................11 Osteoborus sp.....................................................................11 Eucyon davisi ? ..................................................................12 vi SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY (CONTINUED) Order Proboscidea ......................................................................................13 Family Gomphotheriidae ...............................................................13 Genus Indeterminate ..........................................................13 Family Indeterminate .....................................................................14 Order Perissodactyla ..................................................................................14 Family Equidae ..............................................................................14 Tribe Equini .......................................................................14 Subtribe Protohippini .............................................14 Calippus sp.................................................14 Calippus ? sp. .............................................16 Protohippus supremus ? .............................17 Protohippus sp. ..........................................17 Tribe Hipparionini .............................................................20 Neohipparion trampasense ? .....................20 Neohipparion sp. ........................................21 Neohipparion ? sp. .....................................23 Pseudhipparion sp. ....................................24 Tribe Indeterminate ............................................................25 Genus Indeterminate ..................................25