Cumberland Cave
Basic information
Sample name: Cumberland Cave
Sample aka: Cumberland Bone Cave
Reference: J. W. Gidley and C. L. Gazin. 1938. The Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from Cumberland Cave Maryland. United States National Museum Bulletin 171:1-99 [ER 3848]
Geography
Country: United States
State: Maryland
Coordinate: 39.69° N, -78.79° W
Coordinate basis: estimated from map
Time interval: Middle Pleistocene
Max Ma: 0.79
Min Ma: 0.722
Age basis: ESR
Geography comments: adjacent to a railway track "just south of Corriganville" (coordinate estimated from a Google map)
the election is "837 feet"
there are two ESR dates on Platygonus molars of 790 +/- 53 and 722 +/- 64 ka: see Withnell et al. (2020)
the election is "837 feet"
there are two ESR dates on Platygonus molars of 790 +/- 53 and 722 +/- 64 ka: see Withnell et al. (2020)
Environment
Lithology: siliciclastic (mixed)
Taphonomic context: cave,pitfall trap
Habitat comments: the cave was developed in "Devonian limestone" and the sediment is "cave clays and breccias, unevenly hardened and more or less cemented together by stalactitic materials"
thought by Gidley to have been a pitfall trap, with "no signs" of water transport such as water wear on the bones or sand or gravel
thought by Gidley to have been a pitfall trap, with "no signs" of water transport such as water wear on the bones or sand or gravel
Methods
Life forms: bats,carnivores,rodents,ungulates,other small mammals,birds,snakes,other reptiles
Sampling methods: quarry
Sample size: 417 specimens
Sampled by: J. W. Gidley
Years: 1912 - 1915
Sampling comments: collected by "quarrying"
Metadata
Sample number: 4213
Contributor: John Alroy
Enterer: John Alroy
Created: 2023-04-09 17:33:48
Modified: 2023-04-09 07:33:48
Abundance distribution
48 species
20 singletons
total count 417
geometric series index: 101.2
Fisher's α: 14.009
geometric series k: 0.9141
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.9204
Shannon's H: 2.9926
Good's u: 0.9521
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
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Register
| Crocodylia indet. | 1 | |
| Serpentes indet. | 3 | |
| "Ophidia": "several" vertebrae, so at least three | ||
| Bonasa umbellus | 1 | 566 g omnivore |
| Sorex sp. | 1 | |
| Blarina brevicauda | 11 | 15.1 g |
| Eptesicus cf. fuscus | 68 | 17.2 g insectivore |
| "Eptesicus cf. grandis" | ||
| Plecotus alleganiensis | 34 | |
| "Corynorhinus alleganiensis": see Martin 1972) | ||
| Canis armbrusteri | 27 | |
| plus "several" limb bones and vertebrae | ||
| Canis cf. priscolatrans | 1 | |
| Ursus vitabilis | 60 | |
| "Euarctos vitabilis": see Wolverton and Lyman (1998); plus "a large amount" of postcrania | ||
| Arctodus pristinus | 1 | |
| "Arctodus haplodon" | ||
| Pekania diluviana | 11 | |
| "Martes parapennanti": see Nowak (1971) | ||
| Neogale cf. vison | 12 | 950 g |
| "Mustela cf. vison" | ||
| Gulo schlosseri | 2 | |
| "Gulo gidleyi": see Samuels et al. (2018); other specimens may be present | ||
| Lutra parvicuspis | 1 | |
| valid, see Berta (1995) | ||
| Brachyprotoma pristina | 7 | |
| apparently valid | ||
| Spilogale marylandensis | 1 | |
| apparently valid | ||
| Taxidea taxus | 1 | 7.0 kg carnivore |
| "Taxidea marylandica": see Long (1964) | ||
| Miracinonyx cf. inexpectatus | 1 | |
| "Felis cf. inexpectata" | ||
| Panthera sp. | 4 | |
| near "Felis atrox" | ||
| Marmota monax | 10 | 4.5 kg |
| count is a minimum | ||
| Ictidomys cf. tridecemlineatus | 1 | 160 g |
| "Citellus cf. tridecemlineatus" | ||
| Tamias cf. striatus | 1 | 113 g frugivore-insectivore |
| Tamiasciurus hudsonicus tenuidens | 7 | 187 g |
| "Sciurus (Tamiasciurus) tenuidens": see Steele (1998) | ||
| Glaucomys sp. | 1 | |
| Thomomys potamacensis | 5 | |
| "Plesiothomomys potamacensis": see Thaeler (1980) | ||
| Castor canadensis | 1 | 11 kg |
| Peromyscus cf. leucopus | 8 | 21.0 g |
| Neotoma magister | 3 | |
| Parahodomys spelaeus | 2 | |
| apparently valid, see Genoways and Birney (1974) | ||
| Synaptomys cooperi | 1 | 29.0 g |
| Mictomys sp. | 1 | |
| "Synaptomys (Mictomys) sp.": see Ruez and Gensler (2008) | ||
| Arvicolinae indet. | 7 | |
| "Microtus cf. involutus": see Martin (2012) | ||
| Ondatra cf. annectens | 1 | |
| valid, see Martin (1976) | ||
| Zapus sp. | 1 | |
| Napaeozapus cf. insignis | 1 | 22.7 g |
| Erethizon cf. dorsatum | 15 | 9.9 kg herbivore |
| Ochotona sp. | 9 | |
| Lepus cf. americanus | 29 | 1.4 kg browser |
| Mammut cf. americanum | 5 | |
| Equus sp. | 6 | |
| Tapirus sp. | 3 | |
| Platygonus vetus | 41 | |
| questionably referred: includes "Platygonus cumberlandensis", see Prothero and Grenader (2012); "a large number" of postcrania are not tallied | ||
| Mylohyus fossilis | 2 | |
| "Mylohyus exortivus": see Westgate and Messick (1985) | ||
| Mylohyus cf. nasutus | 1 | |
| "Mylohyus cf. pennsylvanicus": see Westgate and Messick (1985) | ||
| Cervus sp. | 1 | |
| Odocoileus cf. virginianus | 3 | 75 kg herbivore |
| "several" jaw fragments | ||
| Euceratherium americanum | 3 | |
| possibly valid | ||