Fossil Florida Cave Bear (Tremarctos floridanus) Tooth

This is a fossil tooth of an extinct type of bear, Tremarctos floridanus, often referred to as the Florida Short-Faced Bear or Florida Cave Bear. Tremarctos floridanus was endemic to North America from the Pliocene to Holocene epoch (4.9 million to 11,000 years ago) This well preserved tooth was collected from a river in the SE United States (either Florida or Georgia) by a diver looking for Megalodon teeth.