Arctodus Simus Specimen Discovered In Florida

[MarkGelbart]

I first came across this in Wikipedia. I couldn't use it as a reference for my book because I don't consider Wikipedia a good definite source. Later, I found Arctodus simus listed in a chart of species occurring in southeastern North America in a paper about the ecology of the region during the Pleistocene, but again I hesitated to use it because I was afraid it was a mistake--I've discovered mistakes in scientific paper chart listings of species on more than one occasion. Finally, I found a reliable source.

At the 1st annual meeting of the Southeastern Association of Vertebrate Zoology (June 2008) there was a discussion entitled "New and unexpected Late Pleistocene Ursid records from southeastern North America," by Blaine Schubert, Richard Hulbert, Andreas Kerner, and Timothy Heaton. They found fossil evidence of Arctodus simus in Florida. The giant short faced bear has also been recovered from Saltville, Virginia. As far as I know, they made no mention of the specimen discovered in the Fern Cave System in eastern Alabama. I think this is because it's in a hard-to-find reference--The Journal of Mammalogy rather than a paleontological-oriented publication.

Unfortunately, no paper on this has been published yet, so there are no details.

Anyway, fossil hunters beware--Arctodus simus did range into this region.

[Auspex]

I am quite glad to reap the benefits of all your hard research; thank you!

[Guest Smilodon]

Mark,

I haven't seen the paper yet. Andreas discovered the fossil(s) but there was another VERY SURPRISING Ursid he found

at that site too. I won't jump the gun if it wasn't mentioned in this paper/presentation.

Here's Andreas training for the Mars landing. JK JK

A hard core diver, ya think?

I took this photo of an Arctodus attack in Tucson

Tthe poor fella with his back to the photo never knew what hit him

[MarkGelbart]

Mark,

I haven't seen the paper yet. Andreas discovered the fossil(s) but there was another VERY SURPRISING Ursid he found

at that site too. I won't jump the gun if it wasn't mentioned in this paper/presentation.

Here's Andreas training for the Mars landing. JK JK

A hard core diver, ya think?

I took this photo of an Arctodus attack in Tucson

Tthe poor fella with his back to the photo never knew what hit him

It probably was mentioned. I read about the discussion from somebody's blog, so I didn't get all the info. I'm going to email one of the authors tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll find out about the other surprising ursid.

[MarkGelbart]

Oh let me guess first.

A grizzly?

[MarkGelbart]

I found out a little more yesterday. A number of teeth and a few arm bones of Arctodus have been recovered from at least three localities in Florida in Polk, Marion, and St. Lucie counties.

There has been a paper submitted to a major journal, but I don't know if it's been accepted or not.

I'll look for it and let everyone know when it's published.

[Phoenixflood]

Very cool! Arctodus, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting predators of the Pleistocene.