Yanlidong (Early Stage)
Basic information
Sample name: Yanlidong (Early Stage)
Sample aka: DES-YLD
Reference: Y. Yao, Y. Fan, C. J. Bae, C. Tian, H. Liang, J. Chen, B. Zhang, S. Wei, Q. Shao, W. Liao, and W. Wang. 2023. Early Mid-Pleistocene mammal fauna from Yanlidong Cave, South China. Historical Biology x:1-18 [ER 3868]
Geography
Country: China
State: Guangxi
Coordinate: 22° 33' 57" N, 107° 19' 32" E
Coordinate basis: stated in text
Time interval: Middle Pleistocene
Max Ma: 0.795
Min Ma: 0.586
Age basis: U/Th
Geography comments: the exact coordinate is given by Yao et al. (2020)
three mammal teeth were dated by U/Th at 333 +/- 4, 392 +/- 6, and 445 +/- 10 ka, but the authors appear to reject them, instead favouring three U/Th dates on flowstones of 586 +/- 46, 624 +/- 78, and 795 +/- 192 ka
there is also a U/Th date of 560 +/- 38 ka for a higher layer that does not bracket the fossils
three mammal teeth were dated by U/Th at 333 +/- 4, 392 +/- 6, and 445 +/- 10 ka, but the authors appear to reject them, instead favouring three U/Th dates on flowstones of 586 +/- 46, 624 +/- 78, and 795 +/- 192 ka
there is also a U/Th date of 560 +/- 38 ka for a higher layer that does not bracket the fossils
Environment
Lithology: claystone
Taphonomic context: cave,rodent accumulation
Habitat comments: the Early Stage mammal fossils are from three layers that are "Light brown silty clay with embedded thin flowstone", "Grey-white layered flowstone", and "Light brown silty clay"
61 specimens "have gnawed marks", the "absence of rounding and smoothing suggests that fluvial transport was likely not a major influence", and "it is not very clear what had the carnivores contributed to cave accumulation", so the authors argue for porcupines as the accumulating agent
human artefacts are apparently absent and accumulation agents aren't discussed
61 specimens "have gnawed marks", the "absence of rounding and smoothing suggests that fluvial transport was likely not a major influence", and "it is not very clear what had the carnivores contributed to cave accumulation", so the authors argue for porcupines as the accumulating agent
human artefacts are apparently absent and accumulation agents aren't discussed
Methods
Life forms: carnivores,primates,rodents,ungulates
Sampling methods: quarry
Sample size: 102 specimens
Sampling comments: sieving is not discussed, but may have been used based on Yao et al. (2020)
the year of excavation is not stated, but presumably postdated the 2017 excavation of Yao et al. (2020)
"crab claws" were collected, but are not counted out
the year of excavation is not stated, but presumably postdated the 2017 excavation of Yao et al. (2020)
"crab claws" were collected, but are not counted out
Metadata
Sample number: 4243
Contributor: John Alroy
Enterer: John Alroy
Created: 2023-04-22 11:26:50
Modified: 2023-04-22 01:26:50
Abundance distribution
20 species
5 singletons
total count 102
geometric series index: 38.8
Fisher's α: 7.439
geometric series k: 0.8479
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.8674
Shannon's H: 2.4222
Good's u: 0.9521
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
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Register
| Pongo sp. | 11 | |
| Macaca sp. | 23 | |
| Trachypithecus sp. | 1 | |
| †Hystrix kiangsenensis | 5 | |
| Atherurus sp. | 2 | |
| Ursus thibetanus | 2 | 63 kg browser-frugivore |
| Arctonyx collaris | 1 | invertivore |
| Paguma larvata | 1 | 4.0 kg frugivore-carnivore |
| Viverra sp. | 5 | |
| Felidae indet. | 2 | |
| Stegodon sp. | 1 | |
| plus one indeterminate proboscidean | ||
| †Rhinoceros sinensis | 3 | |
| count is given as two in the data table | ||
| †Tapirus sinensis | 1 | |
| omitted from the table | ||
| †Sus peii | 9 | |
| †Sus xiaozhu | 2 | |
| Muntiacus muntjak | 23 | 19 kg browser |
| Cervus unicolor | 3 | 100 kg grazer-browser |
| Cervidae indet. | 3 | |
| larger than Cervus unicolor; listed in the table as Cervus sp. | ||
| Caprinae indet. | 2 | |
| Bos (Bibos) sp. | 2 | |
| listed in the table as Bovinae indet. | ||