Tham Khuyen (Pleistocene of Vietnam)

Where: Lang Son, Vietnam (22.0° N, 106.4° E: paleocoordinates 21.9° N, 106.4° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Middle Pleistocene (0.8 - 0.1 Ma)

• from "Two distinct breccia layers, a lower light red unit and an overlying darker red one... the darker one [contains] most of the fossil vertebrate remains... there is no sharp discontinuity between the layers, which were deposited during the same period... faunal analyses... suggest a late middle Pleistocene age (probably around 300-250 Ka) for the entire contained mammalian assemblage"

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: cave; lithified, shelly/skeletal, red breccia

• "periodic flooding appears to have washed river sediments ande remains of vertebrates into the cavity... A relatively high energy environment"
• "heavily calcified breccias that are rich in fossil bone and teeth" including "cobbles and small boulders"

Size class: macrofossils

Collected by T. K. Le, V. B. Tran in 1965, 1966

Collection methods: bulk, quarrying, mechanical,

• collected by "a joint Vietnamese and German (DDR) group... Blocks... were removed... using hammers and chisels, following which manual preparation of the specimens was completed in the laboratories of the Institute of Archaeology in Hanoi"

Primary reference: R. Ciochon, V. T. Long, R. Larick, L. González, R. Grün, J. De Vos, C. Yonge, L. Taylor, H. Yoshida and M. Regan. 1996. Dated co-occurrence of Homo erectus and Gigantopithecus from Tham Khuyen Cave, Vietnam. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA 93:3016-3020 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 92781: authorized by John Alroy, entered by John Alroy on 28.11.2009, edited by Mark Uhen

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Mammalia
 Rodentia - Hystricidae
Hystrix sp.2 Linnaeus 1758 porcupine
Atherurus sp.2 Cuvier 1829 brush-tailed porcupine
 Rodentia - Spalacidae
Rhizomys cf. troglodytes2 Matthew and Granger 1923 greater bamboo rat
 Rodentia - Muridae
Rattus sp.2 Fischer 1803 rat
Mus sp.2 Linnaeus 1758 house mouse
 Primates - Cercopithecidae
Macaca sp.2 Lacépède 1799 macaque
Macaca cf. assamensis2 MacClelland 1839 macaque
 Primates -
Hominoidea indet.2 Gray 1825 ape
said to be a new genus and "large-bodied"
 Primates - Hominidae
Pongo sp.2 Lacépède 1799 orangutan
"dentally primitive"
Pongo pygmaeus2 Linnaeus 1760 Bornean orangutan
subspecies kahlkei
Pongo hooijeri n. sp.1 Schwartz et al. 1995 orangutan
Gigantopithecus blacki2 von Koenigswald 1935 ape
Homo sp.2 Linnaeus 1758 human
Homo erectus Dubois 1892 human
 Primates -
Langsonia liquidens n. gen. n. sp.1
Langsonia liquidens n. gen. n. sp.1 Schwartz et al. 1995 ape
 Primates - Hylobatidae
"Hylobates cf. concolor" = Nomascus concolor2
"Hylobates cf. concolor" = Nomascus concolor2 Harlan 1826 black crested gibbon
 Placentalia -
Chiroptera indet.2 Blumenbach 1779 bat
 Perissodactyla - Rhinocerotidae
Rhinoceros sinensis2 Owen 1870 one-horned rhinoceros
 Perissodactyla - Tapiridae
Tapirus sp.2 Brisson 1762 tapir
Tapirus (Megatapirus) augustus2 Matthew and Granger 1923 tapir
 Artiodactyla - Suidae
Sus sp.2 Linnaeus 1758 pig
Sus cf. lydekkeri2 Zdansky 1928 pig
Sus scrofa2 Linnaeus 1758 wild boar
 Artiodactyla - Cervidae
"Muntiacus muntjac" = Muntiacus muntjak2, Cervus sp.2, "Rusa unicolor" = Cervus unicolor2
"Muntiacus muntjac" = Muntiacus muntjak2 Rafinesque 1815 muntjak
Cervus sp.2 Linnaeus 1758 deer
"Rusa unicolor" = Cervus unicolor2 Kerr 1792 sambar
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Bibos gaurus2 antelope
Bubalus bubalis2 Linnaeus 1758 water buffalo
 Carnivora - Viverridae
Paradoxurus cf. hermaphroditus2 Pallas 1777 Asian palm civet
 Carnivora - Mustelidae
Arctonyx collaris2 Cuvier 1825 hog badger
"Arctonyx collaris cf. rostratus"
 Carnivora - Ursidae
Ursus thibetanus2 Cuvier 1823 Asian black bear
"Ursus thibetanus kokeni"
Ursus malayanus2 Raffles 1821 sun bear
Ailuropoda melanoleuca2 David 1869 giant panda
"Ailuropoda melanoleuca fovealis"
 Carnivora - Canidae
Cuon sp.2 Hodgson 1838 dhole
 Proboscidea - Elephantidae
"Stegodon orientalis" = Stegodon insignis2
"Stegodon orientalis" = Stegodon insignis2 Falconer 1857 elephant