Malapa Cave (Pleistocene of South Africa)

Where: South Africa (25.9° S, 27.8° E: paleocoordinates 25.9° S, 27.6° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Early/Lower Pleistocene (2.6 - 0.8 Ma)

• "immediately above a flowstone layer with a U-Pb date of 2.026 +/- 0.021 Ma. The flowstone has a reversed paleomagnetic signature and the overlying hominin-bearing sediments are of normal polarity, indicating deposition during the 1.95- to 1.78-Ma Olduvai Subchron"

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: cave; lithology not reported

Size class: macrofossils

Primary reference: P. H. G. Dirks, J. M. Kibii, B. F. Kuhn, C. Steininger, S. E. Churchill, J. D. Kramers, R. Pickering, D. L. Farber, A.-S. Mériaux, A. I. R. Herries, G. C. P. King and L. R. Berger. 2010. Geological setting and age of Australopithecus sediba from southern Africa. Science 328:205-208 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: archaeological analysis

PaleoDB collection 95150: authorized by John Alroy, entered by John Alroy on 08.04.2010, edited by Patricia Holroyd

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Mammalia
 Lagomorpha - Leporidae
Lepus sp. Linnaeus 1758 hare
 Primates - Hominidae
Australopithecus sediba n. sp.1 Berger et al. 2010 australopithecine
 Perissodactyla - Equidae
Equus sp. Linnaeus 1758 horse
 Artiodactyla - Suidae
Suidae indet. Gray 1821 pig
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Oreotragus sp. Smith 1834 klipspringer
Alcelaphini indet. Brookes 1876 antelope
"large sized"
Megalotragus sp. van Hoepen 1932 antelope
Tragelaphus cf. strepsiceros Pallas 1766 greater kudu
Tragelaphus cf. scriptus Pallas 1766 bushbuck
 Carnivora - Felidae
Felidae indet.3 Gray 1821 cat
Dinofelis barlowi3 Broom 1937 cat
Panthera pardus3 Linnaeus 1758 leopard
Felis nigripes3 Burchell 1824 black-footed cat
 Carnivora - Hyaenidae
Parahyaena brunnea Thunberg 1820 brown hyaena
 Carnivora - Herpestidae
Herpestidae indet.3 Bonaparte 1845 mongoose
Atilax cf. mesotes3 marsh mongoose
 Carnivora - Viverridae
cf. Genetta sp.3 Cuvier 1816 civet
 Carnivora - Canidae
Canidae indet.3 Fischer de Waldheim 1817 canid
Vulpes skinneri n. sp.2 Hartstone-Rose et al. 2013 fox
UW 88-812 (holotype), posterior left mandibular fragment including P4 and M1