Microwear-mesowear congruence and mortality bias in rhinoceros mass death assemblages

Although we do not know the cause of death of most fossils, mortality is often associated with ecological stress due to seasonality and other stochastic events (storms, volcanism) that may have caused shifts in feeding ecology preceding death. In these instances, dental microwear, which reflects feeding ecology in a narrow window of time, may provide a biased view of diet. Mesowear, another dental wear proxy based on the morphology of worn cusps, requires macroscopic amounts of dental wear and reflects diet for a longer interval and may be less prone to bias from near-death ecological stress. We compared congruence between microwear and mesowear of North American fossil rhinocerotid mass death assemblages and hunted collections of modern rhinocerotids to test the hypothesis that fossil assemblages yield more incongruous microwear and mesowear results as a result of near-death ecological disturbances. In extant rhinos, both microwear and mesowear are associated with diet and height of th...