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Title: The Plio-Pleistocene Pinecrest Beds: Problems, progress, and potential
The Plio-Pleistocene Pinecrest beds (Tamiami Fm.) of southern Florida rank amongst the most species-rich assemblages known from the Cenozoic macrofossil record. The tropical to subtropical fauna of the Pinecrest beds includes hundreds of mollusk species and subspecies (perhaps over 1,000), as well as diverse corals, bryozoans, and vertebrates. Some elements of the Pinecrest fauna are extant, but most species went extinct during one or more extinction pulses early in the Pleistocene. There was significant species turnover, but perhaps limited overall change in biodiversity relative to the present. Characterization of biotic change during this interval is important for understanding the evolution of the modern molluscan fauna of the southeastern United States but is unfortunately stymied by two major confounding factors. First, there are no natural exposures of the Pinecrest, and detailed sections have only been exposed in now-flooded quarries near Sarasota, Florida. Most samples from these and other quarries and canal cuts come from spoil piles, which often mix shells from multiple time intervals and habitats, limiting stratigraphic and ecological resolution for occurrence records. Second, the mollusks of the Pinecrest have not been comprehensively treated systematically and some elements of the macrofauna have likely been taxonomically over-split, leading to confusion and wariness among researchers about using published records in analyses. Conversely, the micromollusk fauna (<5.5 mm) has been understudied and many new species await description. Refining our understanding of this major regional turnover event is dependent upon a stable taxonomic foundation and supporting specimen occurrence data. Current estimates of diversity from literature and museum datasets do not closely align. Literature from the mid 1990s suggest over 550 species of gastropods and 250 species of bivalves in the Pinecrest beds, but numerous species have been described subsequently, the majority in the gray literature. In contrast to published tallies, over 1,000 and 400 names have been applied, respectively, to Pinecrest gastropods and bivalves in the collections the Florida Museum of Natural History, representing 140 families. Over 280 micromollusk species may also be present in the Pinecrest fauna. We have begun a project to comprehensively refine and substantiate these estimates of biodiversity to better characterize the Plio-Pleistocene turnover event(s) that led to the establishment of the modern fauna. Funding source: This research is supported by NSF DEB 2225014.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2225014
PAR ID:
10558875
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Museum of Paleontology, The University of Michigan; University of Michigan Papers on Paleontology
Date Published:
Issue:
39
ISSN:
0148-3838
Page Range / eLocation ID:
222
Format(s):
Medium: X
Location:
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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