A Hemphillian (Late Miocene) Mammalian Fauna from the Desert Mountains, West Central Nevada

Abstract

The Churchill Butte Local Fauna, a new fossil mammalian assemblage <br /><br />of Hemphillian (late Miocene) age, is now recognized from the "Coal Valley <br /><br />Formation" of the western Desert Mountains, Lyon County, Nevada. It is the first <br /><br />biostratigraphically datable fauna from the formation and consists of the following <br /><br />taxa: Canidae, gen. indet.; Felidae, genera indet. (two spp.); Proboscidea, fam. <br /><br />indet.; Tayassuidae, gen. indet.; Camelidae, genera indet. (at least two spp.); Rhin- <br /><br />ocerotidae, gen. indet.; Equidae, gen. indet.; Leporidae, gen. indet.; Dipoides cf. <br /><br />D. wilsoni', and Parapliosaccomys oregonensis.