UNDERSTANDING CARNIVORAN ECOMORPHOLOGY THROUGH DEEP TIME, WITH A CASE STUDY DURING THE CAT-GAP OF FLORIDA By SHARON ELIZABETH HOLTE A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2018 © 2018 Sharon Elizabeth Holte To Dr. Larry, thank you ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my family for encouraging me to pursue my interests. They have always believed in me and never doubted that I would reach my goals. I am eternally grateful to my mentors, Dr. Jim Mead and the late Dr. Larry Agenbroad, who have shaped me as a paleontologist and have provided me to the strength and knowledge to continue to grow as a scientist. I would like to thank my colleagues from the Florida Museum of Natural History who provided insight and open discussion on my research. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Aldo Rincon for his help in researching procyonids. I am so grateful to Dr. Anne-Claire Fabre; without her understanding of R and knowledge of 3D morphometrics this project would have been an immense struggle. I would also to thank Rachel Short for the late-night work sessions and discussions. I am extremely grateful to my advisor Dr. David Steadman for his comments, feedback, and guidance through my time here at the University of Florida. I also thank my committee, Dr. Bruce MacFadden, Dr. Jon Bloch, Dr. Elizabeth Screaton, for their feedback and encouragement. I am grateful to the geosciences department at East Tennessee State University, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard for the loans of specimens. This research is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Grant No. 1701587. Other financial support for this research came from the Grinter Fellowship and CLAS Graduate Travel Award from the University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as well as the Miss Lucy Dickinson Fellowship and Gary S. Morgan Award from the Florida Museum of Natural History and the Mitchell Hope Scholarship from the Southwest Florida Fossil Society. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 7 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ 14 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... 17 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 20 Functional Ecomorphology ..................................................................................... 21 Thomas Farm Fossil Locality .................................................................................. 23 Cat-Gap .................................................................................................................. 30 3D Morphometric Analyses ..................................................................................... 31 2 NEW PROCYONIDS FROM THE EARLY HEMINGFORDIAN (EARLY MIOCENE) THOMAS FARM FOSSIL SITE, FLORIDA .......................................... 37 Introductory Remarks.............................................................................................. 37 Descriptions and Comparative Morphology ............................................................ 40 Systematic Paleontology: Thomas Farm potosine ........................................... 40 Systematic Paleontology: Thomas Farm cf. Probassariscus ............................ 41 Phylogenetic Analysis ............................................................................................. 47 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 50 3 3D GEOMETRIC MORPHOMETRICS ON COMPLETE VS. PARTIAL FORELIMB ELEMENTS OF CARNIVORANS ........................................................ 63 Introductory Remarks.............................................................................................. 63 Materials and Methods............................................................................................ 64 Materials ........................................................................................................... 64 Methods............................................................................................................ 64 Phylogeny ............................................................................................................... 68 Phylogenetic Signal .......................................................................................... 69 MANOVA and Phylogenetic MANOVA ............................................................. 69 Results .................................................................................................................... 69 Geometric Morphometrics ................................................................................ 69 Family-level PCAs ...................................................................................... 69 Locomotion PCAs ...................................................................................... 73 Hunting strategy PCAs ............................................................................... 76 5 Phylogenetic Signal Results ............................................................................. 78 MANOVA and Phylogenetic MANOVA ............................................................. 79 Linear Discriminant Analyses ........................................................................... 79 k-NN Analyses .................................................................................................. 81 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 82 4 ECOMORPHOLOGY OF CAT-GAP CANIDS FROM THOMAS FARM FOSSIL SITE, (EARLY MIOCENE) FLORIDA.................................................................... 109 Introductory Remarks............................................................................................ 109 Materials and Methods.......................................................................................... 110 Materials ......................................................................................................... 110 Thomas Farm Canids ..................................................................................... 111 Geometric Morphometrics .............................................................................. 111 k-NN Analysis and Predictions ....................................................................... 112 Results .................................................................................................................. 113 Family-Level PCAs ......................................................................................... 113 Locomotion PCAs ........................................................................................... 117 Hunting Strategy PCAs................................................................................... 121 k-NN and Predictions ..................................................................................... 125 Discussion ............................................................................................................ 126 5 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................... 145 APPENDIX A UPPER P4 MEASUREMENTS ............................................................................. 148 B LOWER m1 MEASUREMENTS ........................................................................... 155 C LIST OF CHARACTERS EDITED FROM BASKIN, 2004 ..................................... 162 D EXTANT TAXA SCANNED ................................................................................... 165 E SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION FOR CHAPTER 3.......................................... 171 F SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION FOR CHAPTER 4.......................................... 254 6 LIST OF TABLES Table page 1-1 Thomas Farm (TF) Carnivorans ......................................................................... 36 3-1 Samuels et al., 2013 locomotor classification. .................................................. 106 3-2 Van Valkenburgh, 1985 hunting strategy classification. .................................. 106 3-3 LDA Rate of Reclassification ............................................................................ 107 3-4 k-NN Rate of Reclassification. .......................................................................... 108 E-1 Definition of the landmarks of the humerus used in the analysis ...................... 171 E-2 Definition of the landmarks of the radius used in the analysis .......................... 172 E-3 Definition of the landmarks of the ulna used in the analysis ............................. 173 E-4 MAOVAs and Phylogenetic MAOVAs ............................................................... 174 E-5 Calculation of Phylogenetic Signal. .................................................................. 176 E-6 Complete Humerus Family-level LDA ..............................................................