Sample name: Beehive Cave

Reference: G. J. Price, J. Cramb, J. Louys, K. J. Travouillon, E. M. A. Pease, Y. X. Feng, J. X. Zhao, and D. Irvin. 2020. Late Quaternary fossil vertebrates of the Broken River karst area, northern Queensland, Australia. Records of the Australian Museum 72(5):193-206 [ER 3744]

Lithology: breccia

Taphonomic context: bird accumulation,cave,pitfall trap

Habitat comments: "The deposit was located in a small chamber at floor level adjacent to a limestone wall. The outcrop runs around 3 m horizontally and is no more than c. 30 cm wide when measured from the wall".
"The fossils were preserved in a haematite-rich clay matrix-supported breccia. The site is particularly fossiliferous with clasts dominated by fragmentary small-bodied vertebrate remains. Larger clasts were rarely observed. The breccias are massive with no obvious sedimentary structures, including no evidence of stratification".
"The remains are dominated by small, mostly nocturnal, non-cavernous species. The fossils lack tooth markings suggestive of predation from carnivorous mammals. Thus, the most parsimonious interpretation is that the assemblage was produced predominately by owls". Larger-bodied taxa preserved within the breccia are likely victims of the cave acting as a pitfall trap".

Life forms: bats,rodents,other large mammals,other small mammals,birds,lizards,snakes,frogs

Sampling methods: quarry,screenwash

Sample size: 263 specimens

Years: 2012

Sampling comments: "Fossil breccias were collected during a short fieldtrip in May 2012. Due to the high degree of lithification, the breccias could only be removed by breaking them into smaller blocks for transport out of the cave; more traditional excavation techniques (e.g. top-down excavations with small hand tools such as trowels) were not possible".
"The breccias were dissolved using a weak (2-3%) acetic acid allowing the vertebrate fossils to be recovered. The loose sediments were then wet sieved with 1 mm mesh and fossilized skeletal remains were sorted under microscopes and magnifier lamps".

Sample number: 3992

Contributor: Benjamin Carter

Enterer: Benjamin Carter

Created: 2022-09-02 14:06:25

Modified: 2022-09-02 04:13:03