An Idiosyncratic History of Floridian Vertebrate Paleontology

Abstract

The history of vertebrate paleontology of Florida is reviewed, analyzed, and compared and contrasted to that of North America as a whole. Simpson’s (1942) organization of the history of the subject for North America into six periods is modified and extended to fit the special case of Florida. The beginning of vertebrate paleontology in Florida is shown to have trailed that of the continent in general by at least a century and a half, and its advancement to have lagged at every period by several decades for most of its history, but to have accelerated dramatically in recent decades, resulting in integration and equality, if not superiority, for Florida at present and for the future.