TY - JOUR
T1 - Juvenile Pleistocene tapir skull from Russells Reserve Cave, Bath County, Virginia
T2 - Implications for cold climate adaptations
AU - Graham, Russell W.
AU - Grady, Frederick
AU - Ryan, Timothy M.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank E. and K. Ford for access to Russells Reserve Cave on their property. They are also thanked for the donation of the specimens to the U. S. National Museum of Natural History. P. Lucas dug open the cave and discovered the specimen and brought it to the attention of F. Grady. M. Humora funded the C-14 date. Dave Hubbard and several other cavers assisted with the collection of the specimen. We appreciate the opportunity to study material in the collections of the American Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution. We thank J. Galkin and D. Bohaska, respectively, for making these collections available to us. D. Bohaska also made the loan of the RRC specimen possible for CT x-ray analysis. J. Snider created Fig. 3. We also thank R. Hulbert of the Florida Museum of Natural History for his helpful discussions of tapir dentitions and for allowing us to measure the Tribriton Site Tapirus veroensis specimens. S. Wallace is thanked for providing us with an individual age estimate of the RRC specimen based upon tooth eruption and tooth wear. Thomas Stafford assisted with a search for radiocarbon dated specimens of Tapirus in the United States. Sue Anne Graham proofread the final document.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018
PY - 2019/10
Y1 - 2019/10
N2 - A crushed, partial skull of a juvenile tapir was found with isolated post cranial elements and other fauna in Russells Reserve Cave (RRC), Bath County, Virginia. The cranium is undated but more than likely of late Pleistocene age. It possesses a complete deciduous premolar series and first permanent molars. The M2s have not yet erupted but are visible in the crypt. The RRC specimen is slightly older, ontogenetically, than the type specimen of Tapirus excelsus Simpson (= T. vereoensis) which is probably one of the youngest specimens known. Based upon cranial characters, primarily the lack of a dorsal flange on the maxilla, presence of an interparietal bone, anteriorly ascending cheek tooth row, and lack of sagittal crest, the RRC specimen is referred to the extinct species, Tapirus vereoensis. The sizes of the teeth and morphology of P1 and P2 of the RRC specimen are also consistent with an assignment to T. veroensis. Tapirus pinchaque, the modern woolly tapir, is adapted to cold Andean environments; cladistics and paleoecological studies suggest that cold adaptation may have evolved a second time in T. veroensis.
AB - A crushed, partial skull of a juvenile tapir was found with isolated post cranial elements and other fauna in Russells Reserve Cave (RRC), Bath County, Virginia. The cranium is undated but more than likely of late Pleistocene age. It possesses a complete deciduous premolar series and first permanent molars. The M2s have not yet erupted but are visible in the crypt. The RRC specimen is slightly older, ontogenetically, than the type specimen of Tapirus excelsus Simpson (= T. vereoensis) which is probably one of the youngest specimens known. Based upon cranial characters, primarily the lack of a dorsal flange on the maxilla, presence of an interparietal bone, anteriorly ascending cheek tooth row, and lack of sagittal crest, the RRC specimen is referred to the extinct species, Tapirus vereoensis. The sizes of the teeth and morphology of P1 and P2 of the RRC specimen are also consistent with an assignment to T. veroensis. Tapirus pinchaque, the modern woolly tapir, is adapted to cold Andean environments; cladistics and paleoecological studies suggest that cold adaptation may have evolved a second time in T. veroensis.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.quaint.2018.06.021
DO - 10.1016/j.quaint.2018.06.021
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85054455052
SN - 1040-6182
VL - 530-531
SP - 35
EP - 41
JO - Quaternary International
JF - Quaternary International
ER -