A new early occurrence of cervidae in North America from the miocene-pliocene ellensburg formation in Washington, USA

Abstract

A new fossil cervid from the Craig’s Hill locality of the Miocene-Pliocene Ellens-burg Formation in the State of Washington, USA, may be one of the oldest fossil deer yet found in North America, underlying a date of 4.9 Ma ± 0.1 Ma. This mandible frag-ment with m2, m3, and associated p2 has a size that does not distinguish it from Bret-zia pseudalces, Odocoileus hemionus, or Capreolus constantini, and distinguishes it from Eocoileus gentryorum and Odocoileus lucasi only in having a thinner p2. A strong paraconid on the p2, and ectostylids and cingulids on the m2 and m3 link it most strongly with Bretzia pseudalces, but these are also intermittently present in Odocoil-eus hemionus. Because of the close geographic and temporal proximity of Bretzia pseudalces in the Ringold Formation, and its shared morphology with Bretzia, we are tentatively assigning this specimen to cf. Bretzia.