Rancho La Brea, Pit 81 (LACMIP 89) (Pleistocene of the United States)

Where: Los Angeles County, California (34.1° N, 118.4° W: paleocoordinates 34.1° N, 118.4° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Rancholabrean (0.3 - 0.0 Ma)

• "These excavations all included a Late Pleistocene biota, but assignment of exact ages is impossible in most cases because most of the Pierce beetle specimens are without stratigraphic data."

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: tar; poorly lithified tar

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collected in 1915; reposited in the LACM

• Pit 81 was excavated en masse

Primary reference: W. D. Pierce. 1946. Fossil arthropods of California 11. Descriptions of the dung beetles (Scarabaeidae) of the tar pits. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 45:119-131 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 152006: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 02.11.2013

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Aves
 Strigiformes - Strigidae
Oraristrix brea1 Howard 1933 Brea owl
Insecta
 Coleoptera - Tenebrionidae
Nyctoporis carinata5 LeConte 1851 darkling beetle
Apsena laticornis6 Casey 1891 darkling beetle
 Coleoptera - Scarabaeidae
Canthon sp.2 Hoffmannsegg 1817 scarab beetle
LACMIP 3058 (=C115b); leg assigned to O. everestae by Pierce
"Canthon praticola" = Canthon (Boreocanthon) praticola Le Conte 1859 scarab beetle
LACMIP 2592 (=C117a), 2593 (=C118a)
? Deltochilum sp.2 Eschscholtz 1822 scarab beetle
LACMIP 3060 (=C116b), assigned to P. labreae by Pierce
Copris sp.2 Geoffroy 1762 scarab beetle
LACMIP 3062 (=C116d), 3063 (=C116e), assigned to P. labreae by Pierce
? Onthophagus sp.2 Latreille 1802 scarab beetle
LACMIP 3061 (=C116c), assigned to P. labreae by Pierce
Onthophagus everestae n. sp. Pierce 1946 scarab beetle
LACMIP 3057 (=C115a)
"Paleocopris labreae n. sp." = Phanaeus labreae Pierce 1946 scarab beetle
LACMIP 3059 (=C116a)
Serica kanakoffi n. sp.4 Pierce 1946 scarab beetle
LACMIP 3071 (=C107a)
 Coleoptera - Staphylinidae
Nicrophorus marginatus3 Fabricius 1801 rove beetle
Nicrophorus guttulus labreae