Zesch Cave
Basic information
Sample name: Zesch Cave

Sample aka: TMM 40685

Reference: J. C. Sagebiel. 2010. Late Pleistocene fauna from Zesch Cave, Mason County, Texas. Quaternary International 217:159-174 [ER 3070]
Geography
Country: United States

State: Texas


County: Mason


Coordinate: 30° 45' N, 99° 15' W
Coordinate basis: stated in text

Time interval: Late Pleistocene

Geography comments: "4 km west of Mason"
"Rancholabrean" (no further age information is given)

Environment
Substrate: ground surface

Lithology: breccia

Taphonomic context: bird accumulation,pitfall trap

Habitat comments: "a karst collapse breccia with grain sizes ranging from mud (less than 10%) to small boulders (76 cm diameter)... the Zesch Cave local fauna probably is the result of raptor accumulation. However, there is good evidence that Zesch Cave was also a carnivore trap"

Methods
Life forms: bats,carnivores,rodents,ungulates,other large mammals,other small mammals,birds,lizards,snakes,turtles,other reptiles,frogs,salamanders,fishes

Sample size: 1346 specimens

Years: 1982

Sampling comments: "Boyce Cabaniss collected most of the fossils that are the basis of the present study in the summer of 1982"

Metadata
Sample number: 3343

Contributor: John Alroy

Enterer: John Alroy

Created: 2019-08-25 16:02:33

Modified: 2019-08-29 22:17:12

Abundance distribution
67 species
18 singletons
total count 1346
geometric series index: 109.4
Fisher's α: 14.824
geometric series k: 0.9191
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.9094
Shannon's H: 3.0519
Good's u: 0.9866
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
Register
Perciformes indet.2
Ambystoma tigrinum7
Scaphiopus ? couchii2
Anaxyrus sp.13
Lithobates sp.6
Terrapene sp.1
Phrynosoma cornutum3
Crotaphytus cf. collaris6
Rhinocheilus sp.1
questionably referred
Crotalus sp.1
Alligator mississippiensis1
Anas platyrhyncos1
Meleagris gallopavo17.8 kg omnivore
Coragyps sp.2
Zenaida sp.2
Colaptes cf. auratus311.3 g insectivore-frugivore
Dryocopus ? pileatus117.5 g insectivore
Pica hudsonia31 omnivore
"Pica pica" (restricted to Eurasia)
Corvus corax7 omnivore
Megalonyx jeffersonii1
"Megalonyx jeffersoni"
Lepus californicus112.1 kg
Sylvilagus floridanus2621.1 kg herbivore
Marmotini indet.14
"Spermophilus sp."
Cynomys ludovicianus11
Thomomys bottae5128 g
Geomys sp.31
Chaetodipus hispidus1332.1 g
Dipodomys sp.13
Reithrodontomys cf. fulvescens3311.5 g
Peromyscus cf. difficilis328.6 g
Peromyscus cf. leucopus1121.0 g
Peromyscus cf. maniculatus119.1 g
Baiomys taylori198.5 g
Onychomys leucogaster2234.7 g
Neotoma sp.39
Microtus cf. ochrogaster1533.9 g
Microtus cf. pinetorum424.0 g
Microtus sp.3
"five closed triangles"; likely M. longicaudus, montanus or mexicanus
Synaptomys australis8
Zapus hudsonius115.6 g
Sorex hoyi12.8 g
Blarina carolinensis319.3 g
Cryptotis parva14.3 g
Notiosorex crawfordi1
Scalopus aquaticus794.9 g
Eptesicus fuscus1517.2 g insectivore
Myotis sp.60
"medium size"
Myotis velifer1358.6 g insectivore
Canis latrans4612 kg carnivore-insectivore
Aenocyon cf. dirus1
"Canis cf. dirus"
Canis sp.4
lupus or rufus
Urocyon cinereoargenteus604.1 kg frugivore-carnivore
Vulpes sp.31
macrotis or velox
Vulpes vulpes145.3 kg carnivore-insectivore
Ursus americanus238115 kg browser-insectivore
Mephitis sp.30
mepthitis or macroura
Neogale frenata1144 g carnivore
"Mustela frenata"
Taxidea taxus17.0 kg carnivore
Felidae indet.2
Leopardus or Herpailurus
Lynx rufus229.0 kg carnivore
Equus sp.15
Platygonus cf. compressus1
Camelops hesternus3
Hemiauchenia macrocephala9
Odocoileus sp.2
Capromeryx sp.3
Bison sp.1