The easternmost occurrence ofMammut pacificus(Proboscidea: Mammutidae), based on a partial skull from eastern Montana, USA

2020/11/16 by Andrew T. McDonald, Amy Atwater, Alton C. Dooley +1 · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Marine animal studies overview #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research

paper · doi:10.7717/peerj.10030

openalex publication_date 2020/11/16 · openalex created_date 2020/11/23 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

Mammut pacificus is a recently described species of mastodon from the Pleistocene of California and Idaho. We report the easternmost occurrence of this taxon based upon the palate with right and left M3 of an adult male from the Irvingtonian of eastern Montana. The undamaged right M3 exhibits the extreme narrowness that characterizes M . pacificus rather than M . americanum . The Montana specimen dates to an interglacial interval between pre-Illinoian and Illinoian glaciation, perhaps indicating that M . pacificus was extirpated in the region due to habitat shifts associated with glacial encroachment.

Citations

• Paleobiology and Extinction of Proboscideans in the Great Lakes Region of North America
• Stratigraphic and geochronologic contexts of mammoth (Mammuthus) and other Pleistocene fauna, Upper Missouri Basin (northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains), U.S.A.
• An optimized scheme of lettered marine isotope substages for the last 1.0 million years, and the climatostratigraphic nature of isotope stages and substages
• Fossil and genomic evidence constrains the timing of bison arrival in North America
• An updated radiocarbon-based ice margin chronology for the last deglaciation of the North American Ice Sheet Complex

Cited by

• Arctodus [wikipedia]

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