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Late Pleistocene vertebrates from Gunnison County, Colorado

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Steven D. Emslie
Steven D. Emslie*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611
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Abstract

Haystack Cave, Gunnison County, Colorado, has provided the first collection of vertebrate remains from the Pleistocene (Rancholabrean) of western Colorado. Two carbon 14 analyses of bone apatite have produced dates of 14,935 ± 610 and 12,154 ± 1,700 years B.P. for this assemblage. This fauna, in conjunction with pollen studies, indicates the Gunnison Basin was largely unforested grassland/sagebrush shrubland in the lower basin, with open coniferous forests extending to the edges of the basin, during the late Pleistocene. The fauna also extends the known Pleistocene range of Lagurus curtatus, Phenacomys intermedius, Spilogale putorius, and Acinonyx trumani.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 60 , Issue 1 , January 1986 , pp. 170 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © The Journal of Paleontology 

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