North Coalinga (Miocene of the United States)

Also known as CIT 108, 129; Domengine Creek; Merychippus Zone; UCMP 2124

Where: Fresno County, California (36.1° N, 120.4° W: paleocoordinates 35.3° N, 115.7° W)

• coordinate based on political unit

When: Temblor Formation, Barstovian (16.0 - 13.6 Ma)

Environment/lithology: terrestrial

Primary reference: F. D. Bode. 1935. The Fauna of the Merychippus Zone, North Coalinga District, California. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 453(6):65-96 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy/J. Marcot]more details

PaleoDB collection 19460: authorized by John Alroy, entered by John Alroy on 27.09.1993, edited by Mark Uhen and Jonathan Marcot

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• CIT 108 is the same as UCMP 2124: Downs 1961
Merriam's types of "Neohipparion molle" and "Pliohippus coalingensis" are from "North Coalinga" but in the "Jacalitos formation" = Etchegoin Fm. according to Tedford et al. 1987; these are widely separated stratigraphically according to Nomland 1916 and are of unclear relationships to the USGS sites in the Etchegoin
"? Prosthennops sp." is indeterminate: Colbert 1938
Mammalia
 Proboscidea - Mammutidae
Mammutidae indet.5 Hay 1922 mastodon
"Miomastodon or Trilophodon? sp."
 Carnivora - Amphicyonidae
Amphicyonidae indet.1 Haeckel 1886 bear-dog
 Carnivora - Ursidae
Ursidae indet.1 Gray 1825 bear
 Carnivora - Canidae
Borophaginae indet.1 Simpson 1945 bone-crushing dog
Aelurodon sp. Leidy 1858 bone-crushing dog
probably OK; compared very closely to A. "wheelerianus" and contrasted with Epicyon haydeni and "E. aphobus"
 Perissodactyla - Equidae
Desmatippus avus1 Marsh 1874 anchitheriine horse
Hypohippus sp. Leidy 1858 anchitheriine horse
Archaeohippus mourningi Merriam 1913 anchitheriine horse
Merychippus californicus n. sp. Merriam 1915 horse
see Bode 1934; from both CIT 108 and CIT 129, see Downs 1961
Merychippus brevidontus n. sp. Bode 1935 horse
see Bode 1934
 Perissodactyla - Rhinocerotidae
Aphelops megalodus4 Cope 1873 rhinoceros
 Perissodactyla - Paleoparadoxiidae
Paleoparadoxia tabatai2 Tokunaga 1939 desmostylian
 Artiodactyla - Camelidae
Camelidae indet. Gray 1821 camel
"Procamelus", "possibly Miolabis", and "alticamelid ?"
 Artiodactyla - Tayassuidae
"Cynorca occidentale" = Tedfordhyus occidentalis6
"Cynorca occidentale" = Tedfordhyus occidentalis6 Woodburne 1969 peccary
 Artiodactyla - Palaeomerycidae
Palaeomerycidae indet. Lydekker 1883 ruminant
"Blastomeryx (Dyseomeryx) sp.": comparisons are entirely to "Blastomeryx" riparius
 Rodentia - Castoridae
Monosaulax sp. Stirton 1935 beaver
said to be "M. pansus" and from both CIT 108 and CIT 129 by Stirton 1935
Chondrichthyes
 Lamniformes - Lamnidae
Isurus sp.3 Rafinesque 1810 mackerel shark
Carcharodon sp.3 Smith 1838 white shark