Tight Entrance Cave (Unit J)
Basic information
Sample name: Tight Entrance Cave (Unit J)

Reference: G. J. Prideaux, G. A. Gully, A. M. C. Couzens, L. K. Ayliffe, N. R. Jankowski, Z. Jacobs, R. G. Roberts, J. C. Hellstrom, M. K. Gagan, and L. M. Hatcher. 2010. Timing and dynamics of Late Pleistocene mammal extinctions in southwestern Australia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107(51):22157-22162 [ER 3720]
Geography
Country: Australia

State: Western Australia


Coordinate: 34° 4' S, 115° 1' E
Coordinate basis: stated in text

Time interval: Late Pleistocene

Section: 3720

Unit number: 5

Unit order: below to above

Max Ma: 0.032

Min Ma: 0.0291

Age basis: OSL

Geography comments: "Tight Entrance Cave (TEC) lies in the Leeuwin–Naturaliste Region, in southwestern Western Australia".
"The chronology of the TEC faunal succession was established via uranium-series, optically stimulated luminescence, and radiocarbon dating of samples excavated from a 21 square metre by 1.8 metre deep pit".
Unit J dates from 32 ± 3 ka to 29.1 ± 0.3 ka.

Environment
Lithology: sandstone

Taphonomic context: pitfall trap

Habitat comments: Tight Entrance Cave occurs within the Tamala Limestone, a coarse to medium-grained aeolian calcarenite".
"The ten superposed strata are composed predominantly of ‘clean’ quartz sands. Most units are separated by marker layers composed of moonmilk and limestone clasts, which accumulated as a slow ‘rain’ from the ceiling during hiatuses in sediment infilling".
"Most animals in the deposit were evidently pitfall victims, falling in alongside sediments and charcoal that were washed in via now-blocked solution pipes, although tooth marks on some bones suggest that carnivores played a minor accumulating role".

Methods
Life forms: rodents,other large mammals,other small mammals

Sampling methods: quarry,screenwash

Sample size: 518 specimens

Years: 1996-2008

Sampling comments: "The Prideaux-Flinders University excavation commenced in January–February 1996. The excavation area was divided into a series of variably sized grids, with excavation proceeding according to unit using standard paleontological methods. Excavated sediment was sieved and resultant residues of small vertebrate remains then dried and sorted (picked) for taxonomically identifiable remains. Larger bones were cleaned, dried and stabilized with polyvinyl butyrate dissolved in acetone".
Prideaux et al. (2010) did not report the number of identified specimens. The counts below were obtained by the sample enterer during a July 2022 visit to the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Western Australian Museum, where the specimens were reposited.

Metadata
Sample number: 3947

Contributor: Benjamin Carter

Enterer: Benjamin Carter

Created: 2022-07-21 15:36:18

Modified: 2023-05-30 01:01:30

Abundance distribution
17 species
2 singletons
total count 518
geometric series index: 21.8
Fisher's α: 3.372
geometric series k: 0.7305
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.8511
Shannon's H: 2.2098
Good's u: 0.9961
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
Register
Thylacinus cynocephalus1
Sarcophilus harrisii57.5 kg
Perameles bougainville21
also 6 Perameles sp.
Isoodon obesulus41.0 kg
also 1 Isoodon sp.
Dasyurus geoffroii39
also 7 Dasyurus sp. and 1 Dasyuridae indet.
Pseudocheirus occidentalis26
Rattus fuscipes3
Pseudomys albocinereus1
Notomys sp.2
Macropus fuliginosus5840 kg grazer-browser
also 18 Macropodidae indet.
Potorous gilbertii11
also 2 Potorous sp. and 1 Potoroidae indet.
Notamacropus irma46
Petrogale lateralis54
Setonix brachyurus732.7 kg
Bettongia penicillata11
Bettongia lesueur11
also 8 Bettongia sp.
Trichosurus vulpecula1522.1 kg folivore