Inglis quarry

Citrus County, Florida location
Florida during the Pleistocene

The Inglis quarry or Inglis quarry site is an assemblages of vertebrate fossils dating to the latest Blancan age,around 1.9-1.6 million years ago, located in the phosphate quarries near the town of Inglis, Citrus County, northern Florida.

Inglis site is located in limestone of the Inglis Formation dating to the Eocene to Early Oligocene of ~48–33.9 Mya. The inglis quarry itself is aberrant within this formation,being much younger than the Eocene rock its within.

Inglis site 1A was originally a sinkhole spanning 10 by 20 meters. From bottom to top, the sequence comprises a basal conglomerate, a thin clay bed, a lower sand unit, a second thin clay bed, an upper sand unit, and a cemented quartz sandstone. Its mammalian fauna is regarded as a close correlate of that from Curtis Ranch in Arizona, whose age is well established by magnetostratigraphy and radioisotopic geochronology.

History

Site 1A

The site was discovered in 1967 during construction of the Cross Florida Barge Canal. In January 1974, staff from the Florida Museum of Natural History excavated and screened approximately 300 cubic meters of fossil bearing sediment from the sinkhole.

Paleofauna

Mammals

Carnivorans of the Inglis quarry
Genus Species Notes
Canis C. edwardii A modestly sized canid.
Xenosmilus X.hodsonae A large homotherine.
Smilodon S. gracilis Smallest species of Smilodon.
Arctodus A. pristinus A tremarctine bear.
Chasmaporthetes C.ossifragus The only known North American hyena.
Theriodictis? T?.floridanus A large cerdocynid dog. However further studies have questioned this assignment.
Miracinonyx M. inexpectatus A felid related to the puma.
Xenarthrans of the Inglis quarry
Genus Species Notes
Glyptotherium G.texanum A large glyptodont.
Holmesina H.floridanus A large armadillo.
Megalonyx M.leptostomus A moderately large ground sloth.
Paramylodon P.harlani A large grazing ground sloth.
Eremotherium E.eomigrans A giant ground sloth.


Ungulates of the Inglis quarry
Genus Species Notes
Equus E.leidyi An enigmatic equine,large (130-160 cm at withers).
Hemiauchenia H.gracilis A llama.
Odocoileus O. virginanus A cervid.
Capromeryx C.ariznonensis An antilocaprid.
Platygonus P.bicalcaratus A peccary.
Tapirus T.lundeliusi A tapir.
Rodents of the Inglis quarry
Quarry Species Notes
Phugatherium P. dichroplax A large capybara.
Probiscideans of the Inglis Quarry
Genus Species Notes
Mammut M.americanum A large mastodon.


Birds

Birds of the Inglis quarry
Genus Species Notes
Titanis T.walleri A large Phorusrhacid.

See also

Other Citrus County sites:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 "Inglis 1A". Florida Vertebrate Fossils. Retrieved 2026-05-05.
  2. ↑ "The Paleobiology Database: Revealing the History of Life".
  3. ↑ "PBDB Collection". paleobiodb.org. Archived from the original on 2024-12-11. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
  4. ↑ "Inglis 1A". Florida Vertebrate Fossils. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
  5. ↑ Meylan, Peter (2005-12-31). "Late Pliocene Anurans from Inglis 1A, Citrus County, Florida". Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History. 45 (4): 171–178. doi:10.58782/flmnh.sadz1678.
  6. ↑ Schubert, Blaine W.; Chatters, James C.; Arroyo-Cabrales, Joaquin; Samuels, Joshua X.; Soibelzon, Leopoldo H.; Prevosti, Francisco J.; Widga, Christopher; Nava, Alberto; Rissolo, Dominique; Erreguerena, Pilar Luna (2019-05-31). "Yucatán carnivorans shed light on the Great American Biotic Interchange". Biology Letters. 15 (5) 20190148. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2019.0148. ISSN 1744-957X. PMC 6548739. PMID 31039726.
  7. ↑ Hulbert, Richard (1995-03-14). "Equus from Leisey Shell Pit 1A and other Irvingtonian localities from Florida". Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History. 37 (17): 553–602. doi:10.58782/flmnh.urug9502. ISSN 2373-9991.
  8. ↑ Vucetich, María Guiomar; Deschamps, Cecilia M.; Pérez, M. Encarnación (2015-06-01). "The First Capybaras (Rodentia, Caviidae, Hydrochoerinae) Involved in the Great American Biotic Interchange". Ameghiniana. 52 (3): 324. doi:10.5710/AMGH.05.02.2015.2874. hdl:11336/20976. ISSN 0002-7014.