St. Marks River Fauna 53 



1914a). Although no formal paleontological description of the site 

 exists, the species present in that assemblage indicate a mixed 

 woodland/grassland environment (Webb 1974a). 



The Aucilla River IA site — The site is also similar to the St. 

 Marks River in depositional and temporal characters. No published 

 paleontological description exists for this site either, but from the 

 fauna a habitat of woodland and marsh can be assumed. It includes 

 Didelphis virginiana, Holmesina septentrionalis, Glossotherium cf. G. 

 harlani, Ondatra zibethicus, Castor canadensis, Neochoerus 

 pinckneyi, Sylvilagus floridanus, Canis dims, and Tremarctos 

 floridanus (Webb 1974a). 



Wakulla Springs — This, too, is similar to the St. Marks River 

 in depositional and temporal characters. Included are Mammuthus sp., 

 Mammut americanum, and Bison bison antiquus (Webb 1974a). No 

 formal paleontological description of the site exists. 



Generally there are only slight differences between the St. 

 Marks River and other Florida panhandle, riverine deposits. These 

 differences can probably be attributed to a number of causes including 

 collection by amateurs, undersampling, taphonomic events, or other 

 collecting biases. 



Compared to the other Rancholabrean faunas from peninsular 

 Florida (Martin and Webb 1974, Webb 1974a, Webb and Wilkins 

 1984), the St. Marks River assemblage probably is not representative 

 of the full late Pleistocene fauna that existed in the area. For example, 

 more than 50 species of mammals are known to have been present 

 in Florida during the time of accumulation of the Ichetucknee River 

 fauna, Columbia County, Florida (Martin and Webb 1974). As shown 

 by Martin and Webb (1974) mammalian faunal diversity was 

 considerably elevated in peninsular Florida during Rancholabrean time, 

 and it is highly likely that is was the case along the rich fluvio- 

 estuarine environment of the panhandle during the same period. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS— Thanks are due Chris McKensie, Locke 

 Rogers, Brad Newsom, Tim Gaudin, and Luis Insignares for their 

 efforts below and above the surface of the St. Marks River. Chris 

 McKensie deserves added thanks for the many long hours he spent 

 screening and sorting bones. The United States Department of 

 Agriculture provided an advance copy of their publication on the 

 soils of Wakulla County. Gary Morgan and Russ McArty at the 

 Florida Museum of Natural History were more than just helpful. 

 The gracious offer of Storrs Olson to make available his unpublished 

 records of the avian material he collected and analyzed is greatly 

 appreciated. Robert Martin, Robert Frey, and Elizabeth Reitz provided 



