A LATE PLEISTOCENE (SANGAMONIAN) VERTEBRATE FAUNA FROM EASTERN TEXAS

The Iron Bridge local fauna is the seventh assemblage of fossil verteb rates of Sangamonian age thus far recognized in Texas. These fossils w ere collected over 30 years ago from an area now inundated by Lake Taw akoni in Rains County in northeast Texas. A minimum of 13 vertebrate t axa are present in the assemblage including one piscine, two reptilian , and 10 mammalian species. Most notable in the collection is a nearly complete cranium of the extinct Shuler's pronghorn antelope Tetramery x shuleri. Taphonomic analysis suggests that the fossil assemblage acc umulated within an active meandering stream via attritional means. An environmental reconstruction based upon the: inferred ecologic and die tary preferences of the taxa reveals three presumably contemporaneous habitats: a permanent stream, grassland, and parkland.