Fowlkes Cave (Pleistocene) (Pleistocene of the United States)

Where: Culberson County, Texas (31.2° N, 104.2° W: paleocoordinates 31.2° N, 104.2° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Late/Upper Pleistocene (0.1 - 0.0 Ma)

• material from the middle of three layers (Layer 2); 1 and 3 are barren of fossils

•Layer 2 is "approximately 20 cm thick"

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: sinkhole; yellow limestone

• "yellow... irregular limestone fragments and pebbles, bits of stalactite fragments, cave pearls, and crystals of water-clear calciite... between 5-15 mm in diameter"

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Preservation: bone collector

Collection methods: bulk, quarrying, sieve,

• sediments "in excess of 1,000 pounds" were screenwashed

Primary reference: W. W. Dalquest and F. B. Stangl, Jr. 1984. Late Pleistocene and early Recent mammals from Fowlkes Cave, southern Culberson County, Texas. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication 8:432-455 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy/J. Alroy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: paleoecologic analysis

PaleoDB collection 74473: authorized by John Alroy, entered by John Alroy on 06.08.2007

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• it is not entirely clear that the snails are from the Pleistocene layer instead of the Holocene silts

•abundances are given only for the Pleistocene occurrences

unclassified
  -
Glyphalini identata
subspecies paucilirata
Mammalia
 Lagomorpha - Leporidae
Lepus californicus Gray 1837 black-tailed jackrabbit
"several fragments"
Sylvilagus audubonii Baird 1858 desert cottontail
Sylvilagus floridanus Allen 1890 eastern cottontail
 Rodentia - Cricetidae
Reithrodontomys megalotis Baird 1858 western harvest mouse
Reithrodontomys montanus Baird 1855 plains harvest mouse
Reithrodontomys fulvescens Allen 1894 fulvous harvest mouse
Neotoma albigula Hartley 1894 white-throated woodrat
Neotoma mexicana Baird 1855 Mexican woodrat
Neotoma micropus Baird 1855 southern plains woodrat
Sigmodon hispidus Say and Ord 1825 hispid cotton rat
Onychomys torridus Coues 1874 grasshopper mouse
Onychomys leucogaster Wied-Neuwied 1841 northern grasshopper mouse
Microtus mexicanus Saussure 1861 Mexican vole
Peromyscus pectoralis Osgood 1904 white-ankled mouse
Peromyscus difficilis Allen 1891 deer mouse
Peromyscus eremicus Baird 1858 deer mouse
Peromyscus maniculatus Wagner 1843 deer mouse
Peromyscus boylii Baird 1855 brush mouse
Peromyscus leucopus Rafinesque 1818 white-footed mouse
 Rodentia - Sciuridae
"Eutamias cinereicollis" = Neotamias cinereicollis Allen 1890 chipmunk
originally entered as "Eutamias cinericollis"
Cynomys ludovicianus Ord 1815 black-tailed prairie dog
Marmota flaviventris Audubon and Bachman 1841 yellow-bellied marmot
Spermophilus spilosoma Bennett 1833 spotted ground squirrel
"Spermophilus variegatus" = Otospermophilus variegatus Erxleben 1777 rock squirrel
"isolated teeth"
 Rodentia - Geomyidae
Thomomys bottae, "Pappogeomys castanops" = Cratogeomys castanops
Thomomys bottae Eydoux and Gervais 1836 Botta's pocket gopher
"Pappogeomys castanops" = Cratogeomys castanops Baird 1852 yellow-faced pocket gopher
 Rodentia - Heteromyidae
Dipodomys ordii Woodhouse 1853 Ord's kangaroo rat
Dipodomys merriami Mearns 1890 Merriam's kangaroo rat
Dipodomys spectabilis Merriam 1890 bannertail kangaroo rat
"Perognathus hispidus" = Chaetodipus hispidus Baird 1858 hispid pocket mouse
plus "many maxillaries"
Perognathus sp. Maximillian 1839 pocket mouse
Perognathus flavus Baird 1855 pocket mouse
plus "many maxillaries"
 Rodentia - Erethizontidae
Erethizon dorsatum Linnaeus 1758 North American porcupine
 Carnivora - Felidae
"Felis rufa" = Lynx rufus
"Felis rufa" = Lynx rufus Schreber 1777 bobcat
"Felis rufus"
 Artiodactyla - Antilocapridae
Capromeryx cf. furcifer Matthew 1902 pronghorn
 Artiodactyla - Tayassuidae
Mylohyus sp. Cope 1869 peccary
 Theriamorpha - Soricidae
Sorex palustris Richardson 1828 American water shrew
Sorex vagrans Baird 1858 long-tailed shrew
Notiosorex crawfordi Coues 1877 Crawford's gray shrew
 Chiroptera - Vespertilionidae
Eptesicus fuscus Beauvois 1796 big brown bat
Myotis lucifugus Le Conte 1831 vesper bat
Myotis velifer Allen 1890 cave myotis
Gastropoda
 Stylommatophora - Gastrocoptidae
Gastrocopta pellicuda slug
subspecies hordeacella
 Stylommatophora - Pupillidae
 Stylommatophora - Helicodiscidae
 Stylommatophora - Succineidae
Succinea sp. Draparnaud 1801 amber snail