EARLY PLIOCENE DEER (CERVIDAE) FROM THE GRAY FOSSIL SITE OF NORTHEAST TENNESSEE

The Gray Fossil Site (GFS) of Northeast Tennessee is well-known for its diverse early Pliocene age fauna and flora. Large mammals at the site are dominated by perissodactyls, with particularly abundant remains of tapirs and rhinos. Artiodactyls are much less common at the site and the only reported taxa to date are several peccaries and a few camelid specimens. Recently, the first records of deer from the site have been recognized, which are represented by a partial maxilla with dP4 and M1, partial humerus, 2 tibiae, astragalus, calcaneum, metapodial fragment, and 2 proximal phalanges. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons were made to a broad sample of extant and fossil cervids, including early Pliocene Eocoileus gentryorum and Bretzia pseudalces, late Pliocene Odocoileus brachyodontus and Capreolus constantini, early Pleistocene O. virginianus, and extant O. virginianus, O. hemionus, Cervus elaphus, Capreolus capreolus, and Mazama temama. Morphology and size of the GFS specimens is remarkably similar to contemporaneous records of Eocoileus gentryorum from the Palmetto Mine and Fort Meade Mine of Florida. The M1 of the GFS specimen and some specimens from Florida display a small entostyle between lingual crescents and the posterior crest extending from the protocone is not bifurcated, but is fused with the anterior crest extending from the metaconule early in wear. Postcranial material is also similar in both size and morphology to E. gentryorum. The early Pliocene deer of both Tennessee and Florida are smaller than extant and fossil cervids in North and Central America, with the exception of Key deer (O. virginianus clavium) and brocket deer (Mazama temama). These records are among the earliest deer in North America, and along with occurrences of similar age from Florida and Washington indicate deer dispersed rapidly across the continent in the late Miocene or early Pliocene. The general morphological similarity of the GFS deer to Eocoileus and extant deer (Odocoileus spp.) suggest they occupied a similar niche, representing versatile browsers capable of occupying a wide range of habitats. These new records suggest deer have filled a similar role in the forests of the Appalachian region for nearly 5 million years.