The Leon County paleontological sites are assemblages of Early Miocene invertebrates and vertebrates of

Leon County, Florida Leon County is a county in the Panhandle of the U.S. state of Florida. It was named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. As of the 2020 census, the population was 292,198. The county seat is Tallahassee, which is also the state cap ...

, United States.

Age

Era An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Compa ...

Neogene The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...

.
Period: Early Miocene.
Faunal stage: Arikareean, ~23.1–21.9 Ma, calculates to a period of approximately .

Geological Formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...

Torreya Formation The Torreya Formation is a Miocene geologic formation with an outcrop in North Florida. It is within the Hawthorn Group. Age Period: Neogene Epoch: Early Miocene Faunal stage: Aquitanian through early Messinian ~19–15.3 mya, calculates to a ...

Sites

Leon County paleontological sites are represented by the following: *Griscom Plantation Site. Located in Killearn Lakes Plantation, south-southeast of

Lake Iamonia Lake Iamonia is a large, subtropical prairie lake in northern Leon County, Florida, United States, created during the Pleistocene epoch. History Forming Iamonia Lake Iamonia's base was established during the Early Pleistocene through submerg ...

on the southeast most section of Luna Plantation during a well drilling operation. Time period: ~23.6–18.8 Ma. ( AEO). Coordinates: *Seaboard Air Line Railroad Site. Location was south of the center of Tallahassee during a dredging operation for a roadway. Time period: ~21.7 Ma. (AEO, Alroy). Coordinates: *St. Marks River site. Located along the St. Marks River in southern Leon County. Time period: ~23.1–21.9 Ma. (AEO, Alroy).M. C. Coombs, R. M. Hunt, Jr., E. Stepleton, L. B. Albright, III, and T. J. Fremd. 2001. Stratigraphy, chronology, biogeography, and taxonomy of early Miocene small chalicotheres of North America. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 21(3):607–620 Coordinates: *Tallahassee Waterworks Sites. Locations were just south of the center of Tallahassee. Time period: ~23.03–15.99 Ma. Coordinates: **USGS 2302 **USGS 3423 aka J.C. Henderson's well **USGS 395 Griscom Plantation Site = GPS. Seaboard Air Line Railroad = SALR. St. Marks River site = SMRS. Tallahassee Waterworks Site = TWWS.

Specimens

Invertebrates

*'' Anomia suwaneensis'' (bivalve) TWWS 3424 *''

Chlamys The chlamys (Ancient Greek: χλαμύς : chlamýs, genitive: χλαμύδος : chlamydos) was a type of an ancient Greek cloak.

'' (scallop) TWWS 2302 *'' Ostrea normalis'' (oyster) SALR *'' Lucina janus'' (bivalve) TWWS 2302 *''

Mercenaria ''Mercenaria'' is a genus of edible saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Veneridae, the Venus clams. The genus ''Mercenaria'' includes the quahogs, consisting of ''Mercenaria mercenaria'', the northern quahog or hard clam, an ...

langdoni'' TWWS 395 *''

Metis Metis or Métis may refer to: Ethnic groups * Métis, recognized Indigenous communities in Canada and America whose distinct culture and language emerged after early intermarriage between First Nations peoples and early European settlers, primar ...

chipolana'' (bivalve) TWWS 2302 *'' Turritella alcida'' (seal snail) TWWS 2302

Fish

*'' Carcharhinidae'' (requiem shark) SALR *'' Myliobatidae'' (eagle ray) SALR *'' Pristis'' (sawfish) SALR *'' Sciaenidae'' (croaker) SALR

Reptiles

*'' Alligatoridae'' (alligator) SALR *'' Boidae'' (boa or constricting snake) SALR *''

Crocodylidae Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant mem ...

'' (crocodile) SALR *''

Emydidae Emydidae (Latin ''emys'' (freshwater tortoise) + Ancient Greek εἶδος (''eîdos'', “appearance, resemblance”)) is a family of testudines (turtles) that includes close to 50 species in 10 genera. Members of this family are commonly calle ...

'' (pond turtle) SALR *'' Testudinidae'' (land tortoise) SALR

Birds

*'' Gruidae'' (crane) SALR *'' Ciconiidae'' (stork) SALR

Mammals

*'' Anchitherium clarencei'' (horse) SALR *''

Aphelops ''Aphelops'' (Greek: "smooth" (apheles), "face" (ops), in a reference of lacking a horn) is an extinct genus of hornless rhinoceros endemic to North America. It lived from the Middle Miocene to the early Pliocene, during which it was a common com ...

'' (rhinoceros) SALR *'' Archaeohippus blackbergi'' (horse) SALR *''

Camelidae Camelids are members of the biological family Camelidae, the only currently living family in the suborder Tylopoda. The seven extant members of this group are: dromedary camels, Bactrian camels, wild Bactrian camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, ...

'' (family of camel) GPS *''

Floridatragulus ''Floridatragulus'' is an extinct genus of camelids. It lived in North America during the Early to Middle Miocene, about 20.6—15.9 mya Mya may refer to: Brands and product names * Mya (program), an intelligent personal assistant created b ...

'' (camel) SALR *''

Menoceras ''Menoceras'' ("Crescent Horns") is a genus of extinct, small rhinoceros endemic to most of southern North America and ranged as far south as Panama during the early Miocene epoch. It lived from around 30.7—19.7 Ma, existing for approximately ...

'' (rhinoceros) SALR *''

Moropus ''Moropus'' (meaning "slow foot") is an extinct genus of large perissodactyl ("odd-toed" ungulate) mammal in the chalicothere family. They were endemic to North America during the Miocene from ~20.4—13.6 Mya, existing for approximately . ...

'' SMRS *'' Osbornodon iamonensis'' (proto-dog) GPS *'' Oxydactylus'' (camel) *''

Parahippus ''Parahippus'' ("near to horse"), is an extinct equid, a relative of modern horses, asses and zebras. It lived from 24 to 17 million years ago, during the Miocene epoch. It was very similar to ''Miohippus'', but slightly larger, at around tall, ...

'' (horse) SALR *'' Parahippus leonensis'' (horse) GPS, SALR *''

Prosynthetoceras ''Prosynthetoceras'' is an extinct genus of Artiodactyla, of the family Protoceratidae, endemic to North America. It lived from the Early to Middle Miocene 20.6—13.6 Ma, existing for approximately . In appearance, ''Prosynthetoceras'' looked m ...

texanus'' (deer-like ungulate) SALR *'' Nothokemas floridanus'' (camel) SALR *'' Proheteromys floridanus'' (rodent) SALR *''

Ruminantia Ruminants ( suborder Ruminantia) are hoofed herbivorous grazing or browsing mammals that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microbial actions. The ...

'' (unknown ruminant) GPS

References

{{reflist *E. H. Sellards. 1916. Fossil vertebrates from Florida: A new Miocene fauna; new Pliocene species; the Pleistocene fauna. Florida State Geological Survey Annual Report 8:79–119. *S. J. Olsen. 1964. The stratigraphic importance of a Lower Miocene vertebrate fauna from north Florida. Journal of Paleontology 38(3):477–482. Collected by S. J. Olsen, R. Cantwell, C. Cox. *J. R. Gardner. 1947. The Molluscan Fauna of the Alum Bluff Group of Florida. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper (142A-H)1–709. Paleontological sites of Florida Geography of Leon County, Florida Cenozoic paleontological sites of North America Miocene paleontological sites