Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T20:47:55.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Cape Deceit Fauna—Early Pleistocene Mammalian Assemblage from the Alaskan Arctic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

R. D. Guthrie  and
John V. Matthews Jr.
R. D. Guthrie
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alaska, College, Alaska, 99071
John V. Matthews Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pleistocene exposures located near Cape Deceit on the south shore of Kotzebue Sound (Alaska) contain a complex sequence of organic sediments which have yielded fossil vertebrates of taxonomic, evolutionary, and zoogeographic significance. Cape Deceit Local Fauna from the Cape Deceit Formation, lowermost of three major stratigraphic units recognized at the site, contains representatives of the genera Canis, Rangifer, Cervus, Ochotona, Lemmus, Microtus, Pliomys, and a newly described genus and species, Predicrostonyx hopkinsi-predecessor of the extant genus Dicrostonyx. In addition to P. hopkinsi, new species of Ochotona, Pliomys, and Microtus are described from the Cape Deceit Local Fauna. the stage of evolution of Microtus deceitensis sp. n. and P. hopkinsi sp. n. indicate that the Cape Deceit Formation is at least of pre-Cromerian age. This assumption is substantiated by the stratigraphy of the overlying Inmachuk and Deering formations, fossils from these units (including Dicrostonyx torquatus and D. henseli), and C-14 dates. The Cape Deceit Local Fauna, therefore, contains the earliest North American record of several of the included genera in addition to the only North American record of Pliomys.

Stratigraphic features at the exposure indicate that the Cape Deceit Local Fauna mammals lived in a treeless (tundra) environment showing that the contemporary tundra mammalian fauna has a lengthy arctic-adapted evolutionary history. We postulate the existence in northeastern Eurasia and Alaska of a Pleistocene-Recent “Beringian” mammalian realm which has at times contributed to the fauna of more southern regions of the Palaerctic and Nearctic. The fact that this southern movement of arctic-adapted or arctic-derived Beringian mammals occurred at different times in Europe and North America (interpreted by some as indicating the existence of a “Beringian filter-bridge”) is, we think, due largely to differences of continental physiography and Pleistocene geography south of the Beringian area.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 1 , Issue 4 , December 1971 , pp. 474 - 510
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adamenko, O.M., and Zazhigin, V.S. (1965). The fauna of small mammals and the geological age of Kochkousk suite in southern Kulunda. In “Stratigraphic Importance of Small Mammalian Anthropogene Fauna,” pp. 161–171. Nauka, Moscow (In Russian).Google Scholar
Chaline, J. (1966). Un example d'evolution chez les arvicolides (Rodentia): les lignees Allophaiomys, Pitymys et Microtus . Comptes Rendus de l'Académie Des Sciences (Paris) 263.Google Scholar
Chaline, J., and Michaux, J. (1969). Evolution et signification stratigraphique des Arvicolides du genre Mimomys dans le Plio-Pleistocene de France. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences (Paris) 268, , 3029–3032.Google Scholar
Dylik, J. (1966). Problems of ice-wedge structures and frost-fissure polygons. Biuletyn Peryglacjalny 15, 241–291.Google Scholar
Dylik, J. (1969). Slope development affected by frost fissures and thermal erosion. In “The Periglacial Environment.” (Péwé, T.L., Ed.), pp. 365–386. McGill-Queen's Univ. Press. Montreal Google Scholar
Fejfar, O. (1961). Review of the Quaternary Vertebrata in Czechoslovakia. Prace Instytutu Geol. Warszawa 34, 108–118.Google Scholar
Fejfar, O. (1965). Die Unter-Mittel Pleistozane Mikromammalier-Fauna aus Dobrkorice, Südböhmen. Berliner geologische Gesellschaft 10, 57–65.Google Scholar
Frenzel, B. (1968). The Pleistocene vegetation of northern Eurasia. Science 161, 637–649.Google Scholar
Giterman, R.E., and Golubera, L.V. (1967). Vegetation of eastern Siberia during the Anthropogene Period. In “The Bering Land Bridge.” (Hopkins, D.M., Ed.), pp. 232–244. Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, CA.Google Scholar
Guilday, J.E. (1963). Pleistocene zoogeography of the lemming, Dicrostonyx . Evolution 17, 194–197.Google Scholar
Guilday, J.E. (1968). Pleistocene zoogeography of the lemming, Dicrostonyx (Cricetidae: Rodentia), a re-evaluation. Univ. of Colorado Studies, Earth Science Series 6, 67–71.Google Scholar
Guilday, J.E. Martin, P.S. McGrady, A.D. (1964). New Paris No. 4: A Pleistocene cave deposit in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Bulletin of the National Speleological Society 26, 121–194.Google Scholar
Guthrie, R.D. (1967). The extinct Wapiti of Alaska and the Yukon Territory. Canadian Journal of Zoology 44, 47–57 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guthrie, R.D. (1968a). Paleoecology of a late Pleistocene small mammal community from interior Alaska. Arctic 21, 224–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guthrie, R.D. (1968b). Paleoecology of the large mammal community in interior Alaska during the late Pleistocene. American Midland Naturalist 79, 246–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heller, F., and Brunnacker, K. (1966). Halsbandlemming-Reste aus einer Ober Mittelterrasse des Rheins bei Neideraus. Eiszeitalter und Gegenwart 17, 97–112.Google Scholar
Hibbard, C.W. (1959). Late Cenozoic microtine rodents from Wyoming and Idaho. Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters 44, 3–40.Google Scholar
Hibbard, C.W. Ray, C.E. Savage, D.E. Taylor, D.W., and Guilday, J.E. (1965). Quaternary mammals of North America. In “The Quaternary of the United States.” (Wright, H.E. and Frey, D.G., Eds.), pp. 509–525. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, NJ Google Scholar
Hinton, M.A. (1926). “Monograph of the Voles and Lemmings (Microtinae) Living and Extinct,” Vol. 1, 488 pp. British Museum of Natural History, London Google Scholar
Hoffmann, R.S., and Taber, R.D. (1967). Origin and history of Holarctic tundra ecosystems, with special reference to their vertebrate faunas. In “Arctic and Alpine Environments.” (Google Scholar
Wright, H.E. Jr., and Osburn, W.H., Eds.), pp. 143–170. Indiana Univ. Press, Bloomington, IN Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M. (1967a). Quaternary marine transgressions in Alaska. In “The Bering Land Bridge.” (Hopkins, D.M., Ed.), pp. 47–90.Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, CA Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M. (1967b). The Cenozoic history of Beringia—a synthesis. In “The Bering Land Bridge.” (Hopkins, D.M., Ed.), pp. 451–484. Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, CA Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M. Matthews, J.V. Jr. Wolfe, J.A., and Silberman, M.L. (1971). A Pliocene flora and insect fauna from the Bering Strait region. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 9, 211–231.Google Scholar
Hulten, E. (1968). “Flora of Alaska and Neighboring Territories.” Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, CA.Google Scholar
Karlstrom, N.V. Coulter, H.W. Fernald, A.T. Williams, J.R. Hopkins, D.M. Péwé, T.L. Drewes, H. Muller, E.H., and Condon, W.H. (1964). Surficial geology of Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Geological Investigations, Map 1–357.Google Scholar
Kowalski, K. (1966). Stratigraphic importance of rodents in the studies on the European Quaternary Folia Quaternaria 22, 16 pp.Google Scholar
Kowalski, K. (1967). Lagurus lagurus (Pallas, 1773) and Cricetus cricetus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Rodentia, Mammalia) in the Pleistocene of England. Acta Zoologica Craeoviensia 12, 111–122.Google Scholar
Kurtén, B. (1963). Notes on some Pleistocene mammal migrations from the Palaearctic to Nearctic. Eiszeitalter und Gegenwart 14, 96–103.Google Scholar
Kurtén, B. (1966). Pleistocene mammals and the Bering bridge. Commentationes Biologicae 29, 7 pp.Google Scholar
Kurten, B. (1966). “Pleistocene Mammals of Europe.” Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London Google Scholar
Martin, P.S. (1967). Prehistoric overkill. In “Pleistocene Extinctions, the Search for a Cause.” (Martin, P.S. Wright, H.E., Eds.), pp. 75–120. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, CT.Google Scholar
McCulloch, D.S. (1967). Quaternary geology of the Alaskan shore of Chukchi Sea. In “The Bering Land Bridge.” (Hopkins, D.M., Ed.), pp. 81–120. Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, CA.Google Scholar
Nelson, C.H., and Hopkins, D.M. (1969). Sedimentary processes and distribution of particulate gold in northern Bering Sea: U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report, 50 pp.Google Scholar
Ognev, S.I. (1940). “Mammals of the U.S.S.R. and Adjacent Countries,” Vol. 4. Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem (1947). Google Scholar
Ognev, S.I. (1947). “Mammals of the U.S.S.R. and Adjacent Countries,” Vol. 5. Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem (1963).Google Scholar
Paulson, G.R. (1961). The mammals of the Cudhay Fauna. Papers of the Michigan Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters 46, 127–133.Google Scholar
Péwé, T.L., and Hopkins, D.M. (1967). Mammal remains of pre-Wisconsin Age in Alaska. In “The Bering Land Bridge.” (Hopkins, D.M. Ed.), pp. 266–270. Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, CA.Google Scholar
Pitelka, F.A. (1957). Some characteristics of microtine cycles in the Arctic. In “Arctic Biology,” pp. 73–88. 18th Annual Biological Colloquium Oregon State College, Corvallis.Google Scholar
Rausch, R.L. (1953). On the states of some arctic mammals Arctic 6, 81–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Repenning, C.A. (1967). Palearctic-Nearctic mammalian dispersal in the late Cenozoic. In “The Bering Land Bridge.” (Hopkins, D.M., Ed.), pp. 288–311. Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, CA.Google Scholar
Repenning, C.A. Hopkins, D.M., and Rubin, M. (1964). Tundra rodents in a late Pleistocene fauna from Tofty Placer District Central Alaska. Arctic 17, 176–197 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richmond, G.M. (1965). Glaciation of the Rocky Mountains. In “The Quaternary of the United States.” (Wright, H.E. Jr., and Frey, D.G., Eds.), pp. 217–230. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, NJ.Google Scholar
Sher, A.V. (1969). Early Pleistocene mammals of extreme northeastern Asia and their environments (abst.). VIII Congress INQUA, Resumes des Communications, pp. 135.Google Scholar
Taylor, D.W. (1965). The study of Pleistocene nonmarine mollusks in North America. In “The quaternary of the United States.” (Wright, H.E. and Frey, D.G., Eds.), pp. 597–611. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, NJ.Google Scholar
Thompson, D.Q. (1955). Summerfood preference of the brown and collared lemmings. Proceedings of the 2nd Alaskan Science Conferenc, pp. 166–176.Google Scholar
Vangengeim, E.A. (1961). “Paleontological Basis of the Stratigraphy of the Anthropogene Deposits of Northeast Siberia.” Akademiya Nauk SSSR, Trudy Geologicheskogo Instituta 48. (In Russian.)Google Scholar
West, R.G. (1969). Stratigraphy of periglacial features in East Anglia and adjacent areas. In “The Periglacial Environment.” (Péwé, T.L., Ed.), pp. 411–415. McGill-Queen's Univ. Press, Montreal.Google Scholar
Westgate, J.A. (1969). The Quaternary geology of the Edmonton area, Alberta. In “Pedology and Quaternary Research.” (Pawlik, S., Ed.), pp. 129–151. Univ. of Alberta Press, Edmonton.Google Scholar
Young, C.C. (1935). On the insectivora, chiroptera, rodentia, and primates other than Sinanthropus from Locality 1 at Choukoutien. Paleoontologica Sinica 8, 92–121.Google Scholar