Bighorn Cave - Locus A, Level III (Holocene of the United States)

Also known as Locus A = "lower shelter and toe of talus cone"; Level III = "Component III"

Where: Mohave County, Arizona (35.2° N, 114.4° W: paleocoordinates 35.2° N, 114.4° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

When: Holocene (0.0 - 0.0 Ma)

• Fauna recovered from cave fill sediments; details of stratigraphy were provided by Geib and Keller (2002); Level (Component) III associated with radiocarbon dates spanning 1320 yr B.P. and 1035 yr B.P. (Geib and Keller, 2002).

Environment/lithology: caveunlithified

• Cave is formed within a "massive volcanic breccia" (Geib (2002:7); see also Geib and Keller (2002)

Collection methods: quarrying,

• Screen mesh size reported by Geib and Keller (2002); specimens are curated in the Laboratory of Quaternary Paleontology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona (NAUQSP)

Primary reference: C. N. Jass. 2004. Mid to late Holocene mammals from Bighorn Cave, Arizona. The Southwestern Naturalist 49(1):75-82 [C. Bell/C. Bell]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 63710: authorized by Chris Bell, entered by Chris Bell on 18.08.2006

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Mammalia
 Carnivora - Mephitidae
Spilogale gracilis Merriam 1890 western spotted skunk
 Carnivora - Procyonidae
Bassariscus astutus Lichtenstein 1830 ringtail
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Ovis canadensis Shaw 1804 bighorn sheep
 Rodentia - Sciuridae
"Spermophilus variegatus" = Otospermophilus variegatus
"Spermophilus variegatus" = Otospermophilus variegatus Erxleben 1777 rock squirrel
 Rodentia - Muridae
Muridae indet. Illiger 1811 mouse
"Peromyscus / Onychomys sp."
 Rodentia - Cricetidae
Peromyscus sp. Gloger 1841 deer mouse
Neotoma sp. Say and Ord 1825 pack rat
 Rodentia - Heteromyidae
Heteromyidae indet. Gray 1868 rodent
"Perognathus / Chaetodipus sp."
Dipodomys sp. Gray 1841 kangaroo rat
 Rodentia - Geomyidae
Thomomys sp. Wied-Neuwied 1839 pocket gopher
 Lagomorpha - Leporidae
Lepus sp. Linnaeus 1758 hare
Sylvilagus sp. Gray 1867 cottontail rabbit
"Sylvilagus audubonii / floridanus" (correlation to this level is tentative)
 Chiroptera -
Chiroptera indet. Blumenbach 1779 bat