Floridaceras

Floridaceras; Temporal range: Early Miocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
	Fossil vertebrae, Florida Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Rhinocerotidae
Subfamily:	†Aceratheriinae
Genus:	†Floridaceras; Wood, 1964
Species:	†F. whitei
Binomial name
	†Floridaceras whitei; Wood, 1964

Floridaceras is an extinct genus of rhinocerotid of the Miocene epoch (early Hemingfordian), endemic to North America, living from around ~20.6–16.3 Ma, existing for approximately 4.3 million years.

Taxonomy

Floridaceras was named by Wood (1964). Its type is Floridaceras whitei. It was assigned to Rhinocerotidae by Wood (1964) and Carroll (1988); and to Aceratheriinae by Prothero (1998).^[1]

Fossil distribution

The only site known is the Thomas Farm Site in Gilchrist County, Florida, ~20.6–16.3 Ma.^[2]

Description

Floridaceras was of unusually large size for a rhinoceros of the Hemingfordian. It would have been roughly comparable to a black rhinoceros^[3] in size, much larger than contemporaries such as the Menoceras. Like many primitive Aceratheriines, it has no horn, relatively long limbs and brachydont dentition (indicating it was a browser).^[4]

Sources

^ D. R. Prothero. 1998. Rhinocerotidae. In C. M. Janis, K. M. Scott, and L. L. Jacobs (eds.), Evolution of Tertiary mammals of North America 595-605
^ T. E. White. 1942. The Lower Miocene mammal fauna of Florida. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 92(1):1-49
^ Pony Express Florida: Fossil Horse Newsletter · Volumes 1-10. Florida Museum of Natural History. 1992.
^ Prothero, Donald R. (2005). The Evolution of North American Rhinoceroses. Cambridge University Press. pp. 67–68. ISBN 9780521832403.