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Fossil Insect Evidence for Late Quaternary Climatic Change in the Big Bend Region, Chihuahuan Desert, Texas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Scott A. Elias  and
Thomas R. Van Devender
Scott A. Elias
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Box 450, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309 USA
Thomas R. Van Devender
Affiliation:
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, 2021 N. Kinney Road, Tucson, Arizona 85743 USA
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Abstract

A series of 50 packrat midden assemblages from the Big Bend region of the Chihuahuan Desert, ranging in age from >36,000 yr B.P. to recent, yielded abundant, diverse arthropod faunas. The mesic nature of regional Wisconsin age climates is substantiated by the fauna from 30,000–12,000 yr B.P., especially during the middle Wisconsin (30,000–20,000 yr B.P.). Late Wisconsin faunas contained grassland species which are confined today to cooler, moister regions. Following 12,000 yr B.P., most of these temperate species were replaced either by desert species or by more cosmopolitan taxa, marking the climatic shift from late Wisconsin to postglacial time. Insects indicative of more severe aridity are first recorded at about 6000 yr B.P., but some temperate species persisted until about 2500 yr B.P. After this, only desert dwellers are recorded.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , September 1990 , pp. 249 - 261
Copyright
University of Washington

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