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Ancient ecology of 15-million-year-old browsing mammals within C3 plant communities from Panama

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Abstract

Middle Miocene mammals are known from ~15 million-year-old sediments exposed along the Panama Canal of Central America, a region that otherwise has an exceedingly poor terrestrial fossil record. These land mammals, which represent a part of the ancient terrestrial herbivore community, include an oreodont Merycochoerus matthewi, small camel-like protoceratid artiodactyl Paratoceras wardi, two horses Anchitherium clarencei and Archaeohippus sp., and two rhinos Menoceras barbouri and Floridaceras whitei. Bulk and serial carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of the tooth enamel carbonate allow reconstruction of the ancient climate and ecology of these fossil mammals. Ancient Panama had an equable climate with seasonal temperature and rainfall fluctuations less than those seen today. The middle Miocene terrestrial community consisted predominantly, or exclusively, of C3 plants, i.e., there is no evidence for C4 grasses. Statistically different mean carbon isotope values for the mammalian herbivores indicate niche partitioning of the C3 plant food resources. The range of individual carbon isotope analyses, i.e., δ13C from −15.9 to −10.1‰, indicates herbivores feeding on diverse plants from different habitats with extrapolated δ13C values of −29.9 to −24.2‰, possibly ranging from dense forest to more open country woodland. The ecological niches of individual mammalian herbivore species were differentiated either by diet or body size.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Robert J. Emry of the USNM for permission to borrow and sample the fossils from the Gaillard Cut L.F. Isotopic preparation and analyses were done at the Center for Isotope Geoscience in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Florida. This is University of Florida Contribution to Paleobiology number 562.

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  1. Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Bruce J. MacFadden & Pennilyn Higgins

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  1. Bruce J. MacFadden
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Correspondence to Bruce J. MacFadden.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Table 3 shows data for individual bulk carbon and oxygen isotopic analyses.

Table 3 Data for individual bulk carbon and oxygen isotopic analyses
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Appendix 2

Table 4 shows serial isotopic analyses for two teeth of the large rhino Floridaceras whitei from the Miocene of Panama.

Table 4 Serial isotopic analyses for two teeth of the large rhino Floridaceras whitei from the Miocene of Panama
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MacFadden, B.J., Higgins, P. Ancient ecology of 15-million-year-old browsing mammals within C3 plant communities from Panama. Oecologia 140, 169–182 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-004-1571-x

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