Kelangurr Cave
Basic information
Sample name: Kelangurr Cave
Reference: T. F. Flannery. 1999. The Pleistocene mammal fauna of Kelangurr Cave,\ncentral montane Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 57:341-350 [ER 3689]
Geography
Country: Indonesia
State: Papua
Coordinate: 4° 0' 0" S, 138° 8' 55" E
Coordinate basis: estimated from map
Time interval: Late Pleistocene
Max Ma: 0.025
Min Ma: 0.02
Age basis: OSL
Geography comments: "Kelangurr Cave lies about 10 km west of the settlement of Kwiyawagi, Irian Jaya (now Papua), in a side valley leading to the West Baliem River". Elevation is 2950 m.
"It consists of a passage about 350 m long averaging 3 m high, which slopes gently downward from a cliffed entrance".
"OSL and uranium series dates indicate that the deposit accumulated between 25 000 and 20 000 BP".
"It consists of a passage about 350 m long averaging 3 m high, which slopes gently downward from a cliffed entrance".
"OSL and uranium series dates indicate that the deposit accumulated between 25 000 and 20 000 BP".
Environment
Lithology: limestone
Taphonomic context: bird accumulation,cave
Habitat comments: "With the exception of the remains of two very large and two very small taxa, all other mammalian remains appear to have been accumulated by Pleistocene Sooty Owls (Tyto tenebricosa)".
"Two taxa (Miniopterus cf. macrocneme and Anisomys imitator) are likely to be recent remains that have been mixed with the Pleistocene lag deposit". As such, these have been excluded from the register.
"Similarly, remains of two megafaunal species (Protemnodon hopei and Maokopia ronaldi) could have not possibly been preyed on by owls. These are most likely not contemporaneous with the other remains. They are probably much older, having been washed into the deposit from a proximal region of the cave in an already fossilized state". Therefore, these have also been excluded.
"Two taxa (Miniopterus cf. macrocneme and Anisomys imitator) are likely to be recent remains that have been mixed with the Pleistocene lag deposit". As such, these have been excluded from the register.
"Similarly, remains of two megafaunal species (Protemnodon hopei and Maokopia ronaldi) could have not possibly been preyed on by owls. These are most likely not contemporaneous with the other remains. They are probably much older, having been washed into the deposit from a proximal region of the cave in an already fossilized state". Therefore, these have also been excluded.
Methods
Life forms: rodents,other large mammals,other small mammals
Sampling methods: quarry,screenwash
Sample size: 1458 specimens
Years: 1990, 1994
Sampling comments: "In 1994, about 4 kg of primary matrix and 14 kg of lag deposit (consisting principally of mud and fossil bones) were removed from the walls and floor of Chamber 1 of the cave and taken to Kwiyawagi, where the lag material was washed and sieved through flywire (mesh approximately 1 mm)".
"The bones and rock fragments were then dried, packed and transported to the Australian Museum".
Flannery (1999) report the faunal remains as MNI from this 1994 excavation. The counts below are of the number of identified specimens (NISP) from both this and the earlier 1990 excavation housed at the Australian Museum. These counts were recorded during a visit to the museum on 24-25 January 2022.
"The bones and rock fragments were then dried, packed and transported to the Australian Museum".
Flannery (1999) report the faunal remains as MNI from this 1994 excavation. The counts below are of the number of identified specimens (NISP) from both this and the earlier 1990 excavation housed at the Australian Museum. These counts were recorded during a visit to the museum on 24-25 January 2022.
Metadata
Sample number: 3866
Contributor: Benjamin Carter
Enterer: Benjamin Carter
Created: 2022-01-27 13:47:35
Modified: 2023-09-11 10:48:08
Abundance distribution
14 species
2 singletons
total count 1458
geometric series index: 18.5
Fisher's α: 2.146
geometric series k: 0.5925
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.5804
Shannon's H: 1.3322
Good's u: 0.9986
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
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Register
| Neophascogale lorentzii | 1 | |
| also 1 Dasyuridae indet. | ||
| Microperoryctes longicauda | 48 | |
| Peroryctes sp. | 45 | |
| also 27 "Peroryctidae" indet. | ||
| †Thylogale christenseni | 2 | |
| also 2 Thylogale sp. | ||
| Cercartetus caudatus | 97 | |
| Pseudochirulus mayeri | 901 | |
| Phalanger sericeus | 6 | |
| Coccymys ruemmleri | 41 | |
| also 7 Coccymys sp. | ||
| Baiyankamys habbema | 1 | |
| "Hydromys habbema" | ||
| Mallomys gunung | 32 | |
| also 5 Mallomys sp. | ||
| Rattus richardsoni | 250 | |
| "Stenomys richardsoni" | ||
| Rattus omichlodes | 22 | |
| "Stenomys omlichodes"; also 47 Rattus sp. "Stenomys sp." | ||
| Brassomys albidens | 2 | |
| Paramelomys sp. | 10 | |
| also 11 Muridae indet. and 30 Rodentia indet. | ||