Re: Titanis walleri from Texas

[Jeff Hecht <jeff@jeffhecht.com>]

At 3:44 PM -0700 10/28/06, Ian Paulsen wrote:
>HI:
> So is the specimen from Texas (Baskin 1995, JVP 15: 842-844. ) not T.
>walleri or not from the late pleistocene?
>
According to my notes, dating based on the uptake of rare-earth elements (a new 
technique) was done on the Sante Fe River, Florida and Texas sites. In both 
cases, the Titanis fossils were mingled with fossils from both the 
Pliocene/early Pleistocene and the late Pleistocene. In Santa Fe, FL, the 
rare-earth element signatures matched those of 2 million year old mammal 
fossils. In Texas, the rare-earth signatures matched those of Pliocene horse 
fossils. That implies there is no evidence for late Pleistocene Titanis. 
-- 
Jeff Hecht, science & technology writer
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