Railhunter Rockshelter, Layer I, Tinian (Holocene of Northern Mariana Islands)

Also known as Site 131

Where: Northern Mariana Islands (15.0° N, 145.7° E: paleocoordinates 15.0° N, 145.7° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Holocene (0.0 - 0.0 Ma)

• Radiocarbon date of 1880 +/- 50 YBP but layer also contains historically introduced fauna (dog, black rat, chickens).

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: cave; lithology not reported

Size class: macrofossils

• Yielding a mixture of prehistoric pottery and historic glass, gas masks, rusted iron, etc.

Collected by D.W. Steadman, C.C. Bodner, S.R. Derrickson, J.D. Groves, D.S. Lee in 1994

Primary reference: D. W. Steadman. 1999. The prehistory of vertebrates, especially birds, on Tinian, Aguiguan, and Rota, Northern Mariana Islands. Micronesica 31:319-345 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 194625: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 23.06.2018

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Mammalia
 Rodentia - Muridae
Rattus rattus Linnaeus 1758 black rat
Rattus exulans Peale 1848 rat
 Carnivora - Canidae
Canis familiaris Linnaeus 1758 dog
 Chiroptera - Pteropodidae
Pteropus sp. Brisson 1762 flying fox
Reptilia
 Squamata -
Squamata indet. Oppel 1811 squamates
Serpentes indet. Linnaeus 1758 snake
Aves
 Galliformes - Phasianidae
Gallus gallus Linnaeus 1758 chicken
 Charadriiformes - Laridae
"Gygis candida" = Gygis alba candida, "Procelsterna cerulea" = Anous ceruleus
"Gygis candida" = Gygis alba candida Gmelin 1789 Pacific white tern
"Procelsterna cerulea" = Anous ceruleus Bennett 1840 blue-gray noddy
 Caprimulgiformes - Apodidae
"Collocalia vanikorensis" = Aerodramus vanikorensis
"Collocalia vanikorensis" = Aerodramus vanikorensis Quoy and Gaimard 1830 uniform swiftlet
 Passeriformes -
Passeriformes indet. Linnaeus 1758 perching bird
 Passeriformes - Zosteropidae
Zosterops conspicillatus Kittlitz 1833 bridled white-eye
Cleptornis marchei Oustalet 1889 golden white-eye
 Passeriformes - Sturnidae
Aplonis opaca Kittlitz 1833 Micronesian starling
 Passeriformes - Rhipiduridae
Rhipidura rufifrons Latham 1801 rufous fantail
 Columbiformes - Columbidae
"Gallicolumba xanthonura" = Alopecoenas xanthonurus, Ptilinopus roseicapilla
"Gallicolumba xanthonura" = Alopecoenas xanthonurus Temminck 1823 white-throated ground-dove
Ptilinopus roseicapilla Lesson 1831 Mariana fruit-dove
 Gruiformes - Rallidae
Rallidae indet. Vigors 1825 rail
"Poliolimnas cinereus" = Amaurornis cinerea Vieillot 1819 white-browed crake
Porzana sp. Vieillot 1816 rail
Gallirallus sp. Lafresnaye 1841 rail
Amphibia
 Salientia - Bufonidae
Bufo marinus Tihen 1962 toad