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Pleistocene Mammals from Extinction Cave, Belize

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Pleistocene Mammals from Extinction Cave, Belize Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Pleistocene Mammals From Extinction Cave, Belize Journal: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Manuscript ID cjes-2018-0178.R3 Manuscript Type: Article Date Submitted by the 04-May-2019 Author: Complete List of Authors: Churcher, C.S.; University of Toronto, Zoology Central America, Pleistocene, Fauna, Vertebrate Palaeontology, Keyword: Limestone cave Is the invited manuscript for consideration in a Special Not applicableDraft (regular submission) Issue? : https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Page 1 of 43 Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 1 1 PLEISTOCENE MAMMALS FROM EXTINCTION CAVE, BELIZE 2 by C.S. CHURCHER1 Draft 1Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario Canada M5S 2C6 and 322-240 Dallas Rd., Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8V 4X9 (corresponding address): e-mail [email protected] https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Page 2 of 43 2 4 5 ABSTRACT. A small mammalian fauna is recorded from Extinction Cave (also called Sibun 6 Cave), east of Belmopan, on the Sibun River, Belize, Central America. The animals recognized 7 are armadillo (†Dasypus bellus), American lion (†Panthera atrox), jaguar (P. onca), puma or 8 mountain lion (Puma concolor), Florida spectacled bear (†Tremarctos floridanus), javelina or 9 collared peccary (Pecari tajacu), llama (Camelidae indet., ?†Palaeolama mirifica), red brocket 10 deer (Mazama americana), bison (Bison sp.) and Mexican half-ass (†Equus conversidens), and 11 sabre-tooth cat († Smilodon fatalis) may also be represented (‘†’ indicates an extinct taxon). 12 Bear and bison are absent from the region today. The bison record is one of the more southernly 13 known. The bear record is almost the mostDraft westerly known and a first for Central America. 14 KEYWORDS. Fauna, Rancholabrean, Wisconsinian, Dasypus bellus, Homo sapiens, Panthera 15 atrox, P. concolor, P. onca, Smilodon, Tremarctos floridanus, Pecari tajacu, Palaeolama 16 mirifica, Mazama americana, Bison sp., Equus conversidens, ecology. 17 Introduction. Extinction Cave is the first Rancholabrean faunal deposit to be reported 18 in Belize. It links the Belizean Rancholabrean mammalian fauna to that of Mexico and 19 Guatemala, and shows that it was part of the midcontinental Nearctic fauna and fitted into the 20 continental species cline of distribution. It demonstrates that Belize’s extensive limestone 21 exposures carried a fauna similar to that on the Mexican Yucatán to the west or the Guatemalan 22 highlands and coastal plain to the south. 23 Extinction Cave is located in a small isolated limestone hill about 50 m south of a logging 24 road that gives access to the area. It is the lowest and only fossiliferous member of a trio of caves 25 and is entered from the north side of the hill through a wide entrance in a cliff overhang. Logan https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Page 3 of 43 Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 3 26 McNatt of the Belize Department of Archareology describes it as a narrow passage that is about 27 70 m long, and passes through the hill to a second opening on the south or Ventura Creek side of 28 the hill. In the middle of the passage is a low silt-filled hollow which lies some 2.5 m lower than 29 the main passage floor. McNatt records ‘We collected a small amount of animal bones and teeth 30 from this area’ (pers. comm, 2000; Field Notes, AC 62 #100, June 21, 1984). McNatt notes it as 31 Cave A and indicates that the cave was once a water conduit within the limestone. An upper 32 cave, Cave B, about halfway up the side of the hill, has two or three small chambers and contains 33 some remnant Mayan rockwalling. A third shelter, Cave C. is located on the north side of the 34 hill with a wide, pillared, walk-in entrance, but becomes low at the back. Potsherds were 35 scattered throughout this cave; 21 were Draftcollected, together with a ‘chert biface’ and an 36 unidentified canine tooth (these specimens were not included in the faunal sample) (data from 37 ‘Report of Visit to new site: Caves at Tiger Sandy Bay Outcrops - West’, 4 May, 1984' by L. 38 McNatt, 21 June, 1984). 39 The faunal sample was collected by Logan McNatt, then an Archaeological Officer with 40 the Belize Department of Archaeology, Belmopan, on May 4th, 1984. Caves in Tiger Sandy Bay 41 Limestone Formation outcrops had been reported by Diane Weyer of Mile 30, Western 42 Highway, about April 27th., to Joriel Boriek, Carol Pepe, George Vani and Logan McNatt. On 43 May 4th these five visited the site, which is located east of Belmopan about 28 km (16.5 miles) 44 east of the settlement of Churchyard and about 3.5 km (2.2 miles) across the Sibun River on its 45 south or right bank (Fig.1). The cave lies on the north slope of the valley of Ventura Creek at 46 approximately Lat. 17̊ 20.0' N, Long. 88̊ 31.5', and an elevation of less than 40 m amsl, in the 47 middle flood plain of the Sibun River. The nearest town is La Democracia on the Western https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Page 4 of 43 4 48 Highway some 5.5 km (3.5 miles) due northwest. 49 The sample of mammalian bones and teeth, calcareous cave earth and bone breccia, in ten 50 packets, was handed by McNatt to Maryijka Mychajlowycz on May 5th, 1984, for identification. 51 She was then on leave from working as my laboratory assistant in the Department of Zoology, 52 University of Toronto, and had access to the requisite comparative materials in the Royal Ontario 53 Museum (ROM). We prepared the specimens, performed preliminary identifications, composed 54 a faunal list, and estimated the faunal age as Wisconsinan. In October, 1999, I refined our 55 examinations, took measurements, made reference searches and comparisons, and used the 56 collections of the Departments of Mammalogy and Palaeobiology (Vertebrate Palaeontology) of 57 the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, toDraft confirm our earlier diagnoses. 58 The specimens came into my care without any agreements as to their ownership or rights 59 of collection or transport, and have been deposited in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, for 60 safe keeping. 61 Provenance and Geology. Extinction Cave is an isolated dry karst solution conduit in 62 the eastern lobe of the Vaca Plateau (Tiger Sandy Bay Formation) limestones that form the 63 bedrock of the western half of southern Belize District, west central Belize (Fig. 1). It lies on the 64 Sibun River valley bottom in bush covered rolling topography where the limestone valley walls 65 become submerged in the alluvium of the river plain. The limestones are honeycombed by 66 solution chambers, pipes and conduits (e.g., Chiquibul Sinks in the Vaca Plateau limestones to 67 the southwest). 68 The Extinction Cave fossils comprise a single assemblage within a uniform cave earth 69 matrix on the evidence of bones still with matrix (77579 & 77580) and the matrix sample itself. https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Page 5 of 43 Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 5 70 The fossils were limited to a small pocket within the cave, fide McNatt’s and Mychajlowycz’s 71 May, 1984, field notes. Samples such as this are usually random remnant agglomerations of 72 specimens from various ages and may represent a broad temporal sample. 73 The deposit that contained the bones and teeth is a typical brownish-buff, fine-grained 74 powdery limestone cave earth lacking any stratification, sand grains or pebbles. It is the residue 75 of the dissolved limestone bedrock in which the cave system formed. Accumulation of such 76 earths occur in any solution cavity that is available and is not scoured by floods. The occurrence 77 of a mass of small pieces of bone intermingled with the earth suggests that there was minimal 78 scouring of the deposition site. The fossils may have accumulated on a dry cave floor by the 79 mixing of small bone fragments derivedDraft from carnivore chewing and faeces, mixed with 80 uningested larger bone fragments and teeth from animals that died in or were brought in as prey 81 into the cave, and cave earth stirred by animal feet in a dry floor deposit. No microvertebrate or 82 invertebrate fossils were recovered from matrix dissolved in dilute (10% by volume) glacial 83 acetic acid in tap water. I interpret the age of this deposit as Late Pleistocene (Rancholabrean) 84 based on the faunal composition and the presence of Bison. Radiometric dating based on faunal 85 evidence is open to major errors when early representatives or lingering descendants of groups 86 are sampled and considered to represent animals from the main time range for the deposit. The 87 presence of the extinct species Tremarctos floridanus places part of the fauna earlier than ca. 88 10,000 BP, and thus probably not Holocene. All the other mammals could have been 89 contemporaneous with the extinct bear. However, a small cave deposit that is from a small 90 pocket, as this is, is notoriously hard to date (e.g., Swartkrans ‘Hanging Remnant’, Brain 1985) 91 and this sample might have taken considerable time to have accumulated. The absence of bison https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Page 6 of 43 6 92 and black bear in the region today may reflect mankind’s hunting presence but might instead 93 reflect climatic change and the withdrawal of some forms into more boreal regions. This would 94 suggest that an earlier age for the fauna might explain the differences between the cave fauna and 95 the modern fauna of the region.
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