Jefferson County, Florida paleontological sites

Jefferson County during the Miocene would have a shoreline dividing the county with land occupying the northern half.

Florida during the Miocene

Florida during the Pleistocene

The Jefferson County, Florida paleontological sites are assemblages of Mid-Miocene to Late Pleistocene vertebrates from Jefferson County, Florida, United States.

Age[]

Era: Neogene
Period: Miocene to Pleistocene, ~23.03 Mya—11,000 years ago. (calculates to a period of approximately 22.92 million years).
Faunal stage: Clarendonian through early Rancholabrean

Sites[]

Ashville site (Miocene) Time period: ~13.5—12.7 Mya.^[1]
Aucilla River site (Pleistocene) Time period: ~126,000—11,000 years ago. The Aucilla site specimens were discovered by amateur paleontologist Dr. Richard Ohmes of Bremerton, Washington in 1969.^[2]
Coordinates:

30°06′N 83°54′W / 30.1°N 83.9°W
Wacissa River site (Pleistocene) Time period: ~126,000—11,000 years ago. Collected by R. Alexon, B. Mathen, R. Gingery in October 1981; in shallow water. Specimens reposited in the Florida Museum of Natural History.^[3]
Coordinates: 30°24′N 83°54′W / 30.4°N 83.9°W

Ashland site = ASH. Aucilla River site = ARS. Wacissa River site = WRS.

Reptiles[]

Emydidae (turtle) WRS
Geochelone (tortoise) ARS
Alligator WRS

Birds[]

Grus americana (whooping crane) ARS

Mammals[]

Artiodactyla (deer-like) ASH, ARS
Bison antiquus (bison) WRS
Calippus proplacidus ASH
Camelops (camel) ARS
Equus (horse) ARS, WRS
Hemiauchenia (camel) WRS
Hippotherium (horse) ASH
Megalonyx (ground sloth) ARS
Mammut (American mastodon) ARS
(rhinoceros)
Tapirus (tapir) ARS
Odocoileus virginianus (deer-like) WRS
Palaeolama (llama) WRS

References[]

^ R. C. Hulbert. 1988. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 33(3)
^ Paleobiology Database Aucilla River collection
^ Authority: S. D. Webb, J. T. Milanich, R. Alexon and J. S. Dunbar. 1984. A Bison antiquus kill site, Wacissa River, Jefferson County, Florida . American Antiquity 49(2):384-392

Texas A&M Univdersity
Webb, S.D. 2000. Two cycles of Late Pleistocene sinkhole filling in the middle Aucilla River, Jefferson County, Florida, pp. 142–153, in W. Schmidt, J. Lloyd, and C. Collier (eds), The Wakulla Springs- Woodville Karst Plain Symposium, Florida Geological Survey Special Publication No. 46.

[1] R. C. Hulbert. 1988. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 33(3)

[2] Paleobiology Database Aucilla River collection

[3] Authority: S. D. Webb, J. T. Milanich, R. Alexon and J. S. Dunbar. 1984. A Bison antiquus kill site, Wacissa River, Jefferson County, Florida . American Antiquity 49(2):384-392

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