East Tennessee State University
Salamanders of the Mio-Pliocene Gray Fossil Site, Washington County, Tennessee.
Abstract
dc:description.abstract<p>Screening efforts at the Gray Fossil Site, Washington County, Tennessee, have yielded a unique and diverse salamander fauna for the southern Appalachian Mio-Pliocene; including at least five taxa from three modern families (Ambystomatidae, Plethodontidae, and Salamandridae) supporting the woodland-pond interpretation of the site. All specimens represent the earliest record of their respective families in the Appalachian Mountains; with the <em>Notophthalmus</em> sp. vertebrae being the only Mio-Pliocene skeletal fossil known for the family Salamandridae in North America. Three types of plethodontid salamander are present, with one type representing the earliest known desmognathine. The desmognathine fossils lend credence to the 'Appalachian' origin of the clade in the Mio-Pliocene. The GFS salamander fauna is predominated by plethodontids; competition is inferred by the presence of several similarly large-sized taxa and is invoked to explain the presence of neotenic individuals in an otherwise amicable terrestrial environment.</p>
Degree
thesis:*- Name thesis:degree_name
- MS (Master of Science)
- Level thesis:degree_level
- Thesis - unrestricted
- Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
- Biology
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2009
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Boardman, Grant Stanley
Subjects
dc:subject × 7Rights
dc:rights- Statement dc:rights
-
- Copyright by the authors.
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- Repository record dc:identifier
- https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1790
- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-3142