Bears of the Pleistocene

[brotherbear]

The Florida cave bear - https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florid...loridanus/ 
 
Quick Facts
Common Name: Florida spectacled bear
Much more common as a fossil in Florida than the living black bear.
Thought to be primarily a herbivore like the living South American spectacled bear.
Sometimes called the "Florida cave bear" but they are not closely related to the European cave bear, nor is there fossil evidence of a dependence on caves for denning. 
 
Age Range

• In Florida, this species is restricted to the Rancholabrean North American land mammal age (late Pleistocene Epoch). There are a few published records of Tremarctos floridanus from the Irvingtonian and Blancan NALMAs (early Pleistocene epoch) in Western North America, but their species level classification needs confirmation.
• About 250,000 to 11,000 years ago in Florida, but possibly up to 2 million years ago in western North America.
  

Scientific Name and Classification

Tremarctos floridanus Gidley, 1928

Source of Species Name: The species name refers to Florida, where the first described specimen of the species was found (Gidley, 1928).

Classification: Mammalia, Eutheria, Carnivora, Caniformia, Arctoidea, Ursida, Ursoidea, Ursidae, Tremarctinae

Alternate Scientific Names: Arctodus floridanus; Tremarctos mexicanus
Overall Geographic Range 
 
Fossils of this species have also been recorded in several localities in southern North America along the Gulf Coast, New Mexico, Mexico, Tennessee, and Georgia (Guilday and Irving, 1967; Kurtén and Anderson, 1980). The type locality is the Golf Course locality in Melbourne, Florida (Gidley, 1928). Reply