Strathcona Fiord (Pliocene of Canada)

Also known as Strathcona Fjord; Beaver Pond site

Where: Northwest Territories, Canada (78.6° N, 82.4° W: paleocoordinates 78.6° N, 80.5° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Early/Lower Pliocene (5.3 - 3.6 Ma)

• said to be Blancan or (by Dawson and Harington 2007) early Pliocene

•"fossil-bearing deposit... consists of a 2.4 m=thick... sequence" (Hutchison and Harington 2002)

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: pond; conglomeratic peat

• "The pond appears to have been located in open larch woodland, near the tree line of the time": 15º C winter temperatures and 10º C summer temperatures (Dawson and Harington 2007)
• "mossy peat with sandy partings, a few cobbles and boulders, larch trunks... and many beaver-cut sticks" (Hutchison and Harington 2002)

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collected by J. G. Fyles, C. R. Harington, J. S. Tener in 1988, 1992

Primary reference: O. Bennike. 1997. Quaternary vertebrates of Greenland: A review. Quaternary Science Reviews 16(8):899-909 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 20083: authorized by John Alroy, entered by John Alroy on 15.05.2002, edited by Jonathan Marcot

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Angiospermae
 Fagales - Betulaceae
Alnus sp.2 Miller 1754 alder
"alder"
Betula sp.2 Linnaeus 1753 birch
"birch"
Pinopsida
 Pinales - Pinaceae
Picea sp.1 Dietrich 1824 spruce
Gastropoda
 Heterostropha - Planorbidae
Insecta
 Dicondylia -
Coleoptera indet.1 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
"at least 16 species"
Gnathostomata
  -
Osteichthyes indet.2 bony fish
"fishes"
Amphibia
 Salientia -
Anura indet.2 frog
"frogs"
Mammalia
 Rodentia - Castoridae
"Dipoides cf. intermedius" = Procastoroides intermedius2
"Dipoides cf. intermedius" = Procastoroides intermedius2 Zakrzewski 1969 beaver
 Rodentia - Cricetidae
cf. Baranomys sp.2 Kormos 1933 mouse
"like Baranomys"`
 Lagomorpha - Leporidae
Hypolagus cf. vetus2 Kellogg 1910 rabbit
 Lagomorpha - Ochotonidae
Ochotonidae indet.1 Thomas 1897 pika
 Theriamorpha - Soricidae
Arctisorex polaris n. gen. n. sp.3
Arctisorex polaris n. gen. n. sp.3 Hutchison and Harington 2002 red-toothed shrew
 Perissodactyla - Equidae
Plesiohipparion sp.4 Qiu et al. 1987 horse
compared to Eurasian Plesiohipparion
 Artiodactyla -
Boreameryx braskerudi n. gen. n. sp.1
Boreameryx braskerudi n. gen. n. sp.1 Dawson and Harington 2007 ruminant
 Carnivora - Mustelidae
Plesiogulo sp.3 Zdansky 1934 mustelid carnivore
Martes sp.1 Frisch 1775 marten
cf. Mustela sp.1 Linnaeus 1758 weasel
Arctomeles sotnikovae n. sp.4 Tedford and Harington 2003 badger
 Carnivora - Ursidae
"Ursus abstrusus" = Protarctos abstrusus3
"Ursus abstrusus" = Protarctos abstrusus3 Bjork 1970 bear
 Carnivora - Canidae
cf. Eucyon davisi2 Merriam 1911 canine
Aves
  -
Aves indet.2 Linnaeus 1758 bird
"birds"