January Cave (Pleistocene of Canada)

Where: Alberta, Canada (50.2° N, 114.5° W: paleocoordinates 50.2° N, 114.5° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• small collection-level geographic resolution

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

• "Bedrock lies 1.00 to 1.95 m below the surface... Excavation proceeded by arbitrary 10-cm levels"

•"four thermoluminescene (TL) dates were obtained from single dental elements" but are rejected as "stratigraphically inconsistent or too variable, but, more importantly... not collected specifically for TL dating"; instead, there are "conventional 14C dates" of "23,100 +/- 860 yr B.P." for "the lowest levels (13-16 combined)" and "31,900 +/- 1400" for "levels 14-15" and "33,500 +/- 1100" for "level 7," all on bone collagen, so the entire deposit is considered to be from "the latter part of the mid-Wisconsinan interstade"

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: cave; lithology not reported

• "shattered limestone fragments in a fine-grained matrix, with grain sizes from cobbles to clays, all overlain by 10-15 cm of recent organic debris... Coarser fractions are due to frost-heave and concussion by falling blocks; the fines are a combination of loess and sediments introduced by water through the fissured bedrock"

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils, microfossils

Preservation: coprolite

Collected by T. Habgood, M. McEachern, J. A. Burns in 1969, 1970, 1974 - 1977

Collection methods: bulk, quarrying, sieve,

• Provincial Museum of Alberta collection

•initial collection was by Habgood and McEachern ("pit A-1"), later collection was by Burns ("pits NE, NE-Ext, SE")

•"Initial wet-sieving [was] in screened boxes having a 1/16th inch (1.6 mm) mesh... Subsequent washing [was] through a kitchen sieve"

Primary reference: J. A. Burns. 1991. Mid-Wisconsinan vertebrates and their environment from January Cave, Alberta, Canada. Quaternary Research 35(1):130-143 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: paleoecologic analysis

PaleoDB collection 93528: authorized by John Alroy, entered by John Alroy on 20.01.2010

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• faunal abundance data for the three new test pits are broken down by excavation layer in a table, but not for the initial pit; there is no distinct bedding; the specimen counts "revealed no trends" through the sections and demonstrated "faunal homogeneity"; and there was an "absence of pollen zonation"; so, I have entered only a single list for the entire collection

•"479 avian bones" were recovered but not identified

•Bos taurus is also listed but apparently thought to be an intrusive

unclassified
  -
Dicotyledoneae
 Ericales - Polemoniaceae
Polemonium sp. Linnaeus 1753 Jacob's ladder
Angiospermae
 Malpighiales - Salicaceae
Salix sp. Linnaeus 1753 willow
 Fagales - Betulaceae
Betula sp. Linnaeus 1753 birch
Pinopsida
 Pinales - Pinaceae
Pinus sp. Linnaeus 1753 pine
Abies sp. Miller 1754 fir
Picea sp. Dietrich 1824 spruce
Demospongiae
 Tetralithistida - Plinthosellidae
Claytonia sp. Finks et al. 2011 demosponge
Actinopteri
 Salmoniformes -
Mammalia
 Rodentia - Geomyidae
Thomomys talpoides Richardson 1828 northern pocket gopher
 Rodentia - Sciuridae
Tamiasciurus hudsonicus Erxleben 1777 American red squirrel
"Cynomys cf. churcherii" = Cynomys niobrarius Hay 1921 prairie dog
Eutamias sp. Trouessart 1880 chipmunk
Spermophilus columbianus Ord 1815 Columbian ground squirrel
Marmota caligata Eschscholtz 1829 hoary marmot
"Spermophilus lateralis" = Callospermophilus lateralis Say 1823 golden-mantled ground squirrel
 Rodentia - Cricetidae
Peromyscus maniculatus Wagner 1843 deer mouse
"Synaptomys borealis" = Synaptomys (Mictomys) borealis Richardson 1828 northern bog lemming
Neotoma cinerea Ord 1815 bushy-tailed woodrat
Dicrostonyx torquatus Pallas 1778 Arctic lemming
Phenacomys intermedius Merriam 1889 western heather vole
Lemmus sibiricus Ognev 1947 Siberian brown lemming
Microtus richardsoni De Kay 1842 water vole
Microtus cf. longicaudus Merriam 1888 long-tailed vole
Clethrionomys gapperi Vigors 1830 southern red-backed vole
"cf. Lagurus curtatus" = Lemmiscus curtatus Cope 1868 sagebrush vole
 Lagomorpha - Leporidae
Lepus cf. americanus Erxleben 1777 snowshoe hare
 Lagomorpha - Ochotonidae
Ochotona princeps Richardson 1828 American pika
 Carnivora - Felidae
Lynx sp. Kerr 1792 lynx
 Carnivora - Canidae
Vulpes vulpes Linnaeus 1758 red fox
Vulpes velox Say 1823 swift fox
V. sp. is also listed
Canis latrans Say 1823 coyote
 Carnivora - Mustelidae
Mustela erminea Linnaeus 1758 stoat
Mustela nigripes Audubon and Bachman 1851 black-footed ferret
M. sp. is also listed
Mustela nivalis Linnaeus 1766 least weasel
"Mustela frenata" = Neogale frenata Lichtenstein 1831 long-tailed weasel
Martes americana Kerr 1792 American marten
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Ovis canadensis Shaw 1804 bighorn sheep
 Artiodactyla - Cervidae
Odocoileus cf. hemionus Rafinesque 1817 mule deer
 Theriamorpha - Soricidae
Sorex "arcticus-group" Linnaeus 1758 long-tailed shrew
Sorex cinereus Kerr 1792 cinereus shrew
Sorex monticolus Merriam 1890 montane shrew
"Sorex hoyi" = Microsorex hoyi Baird 1858 American pygmy shrew
S. sp. is also listed