Reply to Gingerich et al.: Oldest North American primate
- Section of Vertebrate Paleontology, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
The letter by Gingerich et al. (1) questions my conclusion that Teilhardina magnoliana from the T4 sand, uppermost Tuscahoma Formation, Gulf Coastal Plain of Mississippi, is the oldest primate found to date in either North America or Europe (2).
Gingerich et al. claim that the dinoflagellate assemblage from the T4 sand fails to constrain its age more precisely than an 800-kyr interval spanning planktonic foraminiferal zones P5 and P6A. However, standard reference works on Gulf Coast stratigraphy demonstrate that the T4 sand can be assigned to calcareous nannoplankton zone NP9, which rules …
*E-mail: beardc{at}carnegiemnh.org
