Snake Creek Burial Cave: Late/Upper Pleistocene - Holocene, Nevada
collected by E. M. Mead, J. I. Mead, A. Cartwright, D. Cartwright, D. Dawson, S. Emslie, W. J. Marsh, J. W. Marsh, C. Mead, P. Youngman 1984, 1987
List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
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Mammalia
- Rodentia
- Sciuridae
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Marmota sp.
Frisch 1775
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Spermophilus townsendii
Bachman 1839
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| recombined as Urocitellus townsendii | ||||||||||
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Mammalia
- Rodentia
- Cricetidae
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Lemmiscus curtatus
(Cope 1868)
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Bell and Mead 1998 | |||||||||
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Microtus sp.
Schrank 1798
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Bell and Mead 1998 | |||||||||
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Mammalia
- Carnivora
- Mustelidae
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Taxidea taxus
(Schreber 1778)
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Mustela erminea
Linnaeus 1758
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Mustela nivalis
Linnaeus 1766
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Mustela nigripes
(Audubon and Bachman 1851)
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| original and current combination Putorius nigripes | ||||||||||
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Mustela frenata
Lichtenstein 1831
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| recombined as Neogale frenata | ||||||||||
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Mustela vison
(Schreber 1777)
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| recombined as Neogale vison | ||||||||||
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Gulo gulo
(Linnaeus 1758)
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| (3 measurements) | ||||||||||
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Martes americana
(Kerr 1792)
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Martes nobilis
(Hall 1926)
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| synonym of Martes americana | ||||||||||
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Mammalia
- Carnivora
- Mephitidae
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Brachyprotoma brevimala
Heaton 1985
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| synonym of Brachyprotoma obtusata | ||||||||||
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Mephitis mephitis
(Schreber 1776)
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Spilogale putorius
(Linnaeus 1758)
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Mammalia
- Camelidae
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Camelops sp.
Leidy 1854
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Mammalia
- Perissodactyla
- Equidae
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Equus sp.
Linnaeus 1758
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| see common names | ||||||||||
Geography
| Country: | United States | State/province: | Nevada | County: | White Pine |
| Coordinates: | 39.0° North, 114.0° West (view map) | ||||
| Paleocoordinates: | 39.0° North, 114.0° West | ||||
| Basis of coordinate: | based on nearby landmark | ||||
| Altitude: | 1731 meters | ||||
| Geographic resolution: | small collection |
Time
| Period: | Quaternary |
| 10 m.y. bin: | Cenozoic 6 |
| Key time interval: | Late/Upper Pleistocene - Holocene |
| Age range of interval: | 0.12900 - 0.00000 m.y. ago |
| Age estimate: | 15100 ± 700 YBP (U/Th) to 9460 ± 160 YBP (14C) |
Stratigraphy
| Stratigraphic resolution: | bed | ||||
| Stratigraphy comments: "at least some of the deposits" are "late Rancholabrean" or "late [Wisconsinan] glacial" but some might be early Holocene based on dates of "7,860 +/- 130 yr B.P." (conventional C14) on bat guano (Unit II); "9,460 +/- 160 yr B.P." (AMS on wood) "from the very top" of the underlying fossiliferous Unit III; and "15,100 +/- 700 yr B.P." (U-Th) "on an Equus second phalanx recovered from near the bottom" of Unit III) | |||||
Lithology and environment
| Primary lithology: | fine,shelly/skeletal unlithified siltstone |
| Lithology description: "white to tan-pink, very soft, fine, highly fossiliferous" sediment, apparently meaning siltstone and definitely not sandstone based on illustration of section | |
| Environment: | cave |
| Glacial or sequence phase: | late glacial |
Taphonomy
| Modes of preservation: | body |
| Size of fossils: | macrofossils |
| Temporal resolution: | time-averaged |
| Spatial resolution: | autochthonous |
Collection methods and comments
| Collection excludes: | some genera | ||
| Collection methods: | bulk,selective quarrying,sieve,field collection | ||
| Minimum sieve size: | 1.000 | ||
| Collection size: | 30000 specimens | ||
| Reason for describing collection: | general faunal/floral analysis | ||
| Collectors: | E. M. Mead, J. I. Mead, A. Cartwright, D. Cartwright, D. Dawson, S. Emslie, W. J. Marsh, J. W. Marsh, C. Mead, P. Youngman | Collection dates: | 1984, 1987 |
| Collection method comments: "an estimated 30,000 fish, amphibian, reptilian, avian, and mammalian bones" were excavated and "All material was screened through both 5-mm and 1-mm screens" | |||
| Taxonomic list comments:only the mustelids are listed comprehensively | |||
Metadata
| Also known as: | SCBC | ||
| Database number: | 93291 | ||
| Authorizer: | J. Alroy | Enterer: | J. Alroy |
| Modifier: | J. Alroy | Research group: | vertebrate |
| Created: | 2010-01-13 13:40:46 | Last modified: | 2010-01-13 16:40:10 |
| Access level: | the public | Released: | 2010-01-13 13:40:46 |
| Creative Commons license: | CC BY | ||
Reference information
Primary reference:
| 31562. | E. M. Mead and J. I. Mead. 1989. Snake Creek Burial Cave and a review of the Quaternary mustelids of the Great Basin. Great Basin Naturalist 49(2):143-154 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy] |
Secondary references:
| 1056 | C. J. Bell and J. I. Mead. 1998. Late Pleistocene microtine rodents from Snake Creek Burial Cave, White Pine County, Nevada. Great Basin Naturalist 58(1):82-86 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy/J. Alroy] |