A vertebrate fauna from late Tertiary beds near Frazier Mountain, California
From 1932 to 1950 vertebrate fossils were collected in the Hungry Valley area located in the northern half of the Black Mountain quadrangle, California. The fauna described in this paper was found between horizons approximately 350 feet below and 600 feet above the division established by...
| Summary: | From 1932 to 1950 vertebrate fossils were collected
in the Hungry Valley area located in the northern half
of the Black Mountain quadrangle, California. The
fauna described in this paper was found between horizons
approximately 350 feet below and 600 feet above the
division established by Crowell separating the Hungry
Valley formation and the Peace Valley beds. Fragmentary
fossils and nature of the beds in which found suggest
lake and alluvial fan deposits.
The fauna is a typical plains fauna except for the
absence of carnivores which were presumably present but
found easy prey on grasslands well removed from the
sites of deposition. Perissodactyls, among which are
at least two species of Pliohippus (including the new
species P. crowelli), a Neohipparion?, a tapir and a
rhinocerotid, dominate the assemblage. Artiodaotyls
include a new species of llama-like camel, Tanupolama?
montis, as well as a larger camel and an antilocaprid.
The vertebrate-bearing strata overlie beds dated
by Axelrod as middle Pliocene on the basis of plant
remains. Crowell regarded the Peace Valley beds as
middle Pliocene and the Hungry Valley formation as
largely upper Pliocene.
P. crowelli although apparently more advanced than
P. spectans, is regarded as belonging to the Hemphillian
stage. Largely on this basis, the Peace Valley beds and
several hundred feet at the base of the Hungry Valley
formation are referred to middle Pliocene; the bulk of
the Hungry Valley formation is presumably upper Pliocene.
This conclusion is in accord with the view that North
American rhinoceroses became extinct by the close of the
Hemphillian stage. |
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