Late Miocene mammals from the Mauvilla local fauna, Alabama

Abstract

The Mauvilla local fauna, Mobile County, Alabama, contains 15 mammalian taxa, of which 12 are either new or have not previously been reported from this locality. Most abundant are three equids, Cormohipparion emsliei, Neohipparion eurystyle, and Protohippus gidleyi, a new species of protoceratid artiodactyl, Synthetoceras davisorum, and a large species of peccary, Prosthennops cf. serus. Synthetoceras davisorum is distinguished from Synthetoceras tricornatus by its distinctly smaller size and several dental characters including absence of a parastyle on the P4. Other notable members of the fauna include a large borophagine canid, the rhinoceroses Teleoceras and Aphelops, the artiodactyls Pleiolama and Pediomeryx, and the long-snouted dolphin Pomatodelphis. Biochronologic analysis of the mammals indicates a late early Hemphillian age (6.8 to 7.3 Ma) for the fauna, about 2 myr younger than previously reported. The mammalian component of the Mauvilla local fauna more resembles late early Hemphillian assemblages from central Florida than those from northern Texas and the Great Plains.