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Quaternary Paleontology and Paleocology of Crystal Ball Cave, Millard County, Utah: with Emphasis on Mammals and Description of a New Species of Fossil Skunk

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Quaternary Paleontology and Paleocology of Crystal Ball Cave, Millard County, Utah: with Emphasis on Mammals and Description of a New Species of Fossil Skunk Great Basin Naturalist Volume 45 Number 3 Article 1 7-31-1985 Quaternary paleontology and paleocology of Crystal Ball Cave, Millard County, Utah: with emphasis on mammals and description of a new species of fossil skunk Timothy H. Heaton Brigham Young University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn Recommended Citation Heaton, Timothy H. (1985) "Quaternary paleontology and paleocology of Crystal Ball Cave, Millard County, Utah: with emphasis on mammals and description of a new species of fossil skunk," Great Basin Naturalist: Vol. 45 : No. 3 , Article 1. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol45/iss3/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Western North American Naturalist Publications at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Basin Naturalist by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. The Great Basin Naturalist Published AT Piuno, Utah, by Brigham Young University- ISSN 0017-3614 Volume 45 31 July 1985 No. 3 QUATERNARY PALEONTOLOGY AND PALEOECOLOGY OF CRYSTAL BALL CAVE, MILLARD COUNTY, UTAH: WITH EMPHASIS ON MAMMALS AND DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF FOSSIL SKUNK Timothy H. Beaton' Abstract — Crystal Ball Cave is located in a small outlier of the Snake Range in Snake Valley 1.7 km (1 mile) west of Lake Bonneville at its highest level. Original vertebrate skeletal material (mostly mammalian) has been found in shallow dry dust 61 m (200 feet) inside the cave. Radiocarbon dates show that fossils have been accumulating since at least 23,000 Y. B. P. It appears that wood rats and possibly small carnivores transported the fossils into the cave because only the smallest elements of large mammals are represented. The fossil assemblage represents a much more boreal community than the present local fauna. Fish, Ondatra zibethictis, and Mustela cf. vison, which require perennial water, were recovered, as were Ochotona princeps, Lepus cf. americana, Microtus cf. pennsylvanicus, Vulpes vulpes, and Martes americana, which have also been extirpated from the Snake Range. Mannota flaviventris, Neotoma cinerea, cf. Cervus elaphus, and Ovis canadensis were recovered but now occur only at higher elevations in the range. Extinct taxa recovered are Smilodon cf fatalis, Equus species, Camelops cf hesternus, Hemiauchenia cf macrocephala, cf Sijmbos cavifrons, and a new species of Brachyprotonui , herein named B. brevimala. This is the first recovery o{ Brachyprotoma from the western United States. Crystal Ball Cave is 4.8 km (3 miles) north- It is uncertain if native Americans knew of west of the town of Candy, Utah, and 0.9 km Crystal Ball Cave, for no ancient human arti- (0.6 miles) east of the Utah-Nevada border facts were found in this study. The cave was (Sec. 30, T. 15 S, R. 19 W, Salt Lake Base Line discovered by the late George Sims of Candy and Meridian) in the northeast side of Candy in February 1956. He found the original 1-m Mountain, a small outlier on the northeastern (3-foot) diameter entrance that leads into a edge of the Snake Range (Figs. 1 and 2). The large chamber (Fig. 3). The original east en- cave is at an elevation of 1760 m (5775 feet), trance was enlarged, the north entrance was 195 m (644 feet) above Lake Bonneville at its blasted out through a soil-filled passage at the highest level (see Currey 1982, Gilbert 1890) other end of the cave (Fig. 3), and other im- and has about 150 m (500 feet) of passage and a provements were made by Cecil R. and Jerald floor area of about 1860 square m (20,000 C. Bates of Candy, Utah, and Thomas E. Sims square feet). Calcite crystals and speleothems of Elko, Nevada (J. C. Bates 1983, pers. cover most of the cave walls and floors, but comm.). some shallow sediments are present that con- Herbert H. Gerisch and Robert Patterson tain locally abundant unaltered vertebrate collected bones from site 1 (Fig. 3) in 1956 that fossils. they donated to the Los Angeles County Mu- Department of Geology. Brigham Young Un versity, Provo, Utah 84602. Present address; Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. 337 338 Great Basin Naturalist Vol. 45, No. 3 O Trout Creek V/ //, '/, I I Crystal Ball Cave/ Mountain j''i<—^'^ SMITH - CREEK X- CAVE ' oi fI CT) A\^^ \\l^ ///l\\lll\^'^//l\\\ 50^ ofthe Snake Range and Snake N'alley. Fig. 1. Index map showing the location olCrystal Ball Cave and otlier ieatures The stippled area represents the extent of Lake Bonneville at the Bonneville Level. July 1985 Heaton: Crystal Ball Cave Fossils 339 Fig. 2. Looking west at Gandy Mountain. The j marks the location of Crystal Ball Cave. seum (H. H. Gerisch 1983, pers. comm.). who used fine screens to obtain thousands of Later Michael Stokes of the Los Angeles specimens (all from site 1). Miller (1982) de- County Museum collected additional speci- scribed this investigation and listed the gen- mens from site 1. These early collections con- era identified in a report on vertebrate fossils sisted of float only and included bones of ex- from Lake Bonneville deposits. Miller and I tinct horses and camels. On at least one of operated similar collecting projects in 1981 these early expeditions, some specimens and 1982 (sites 1, 2, and 3), and I wrote a were also collected from Gandy Mountain preliminary report on this study (Heaton Cave, a smaller cave that lies about 0.4 km (4 1984). Crystal Ball Cave is Los Angeles mile) south of and 30 m (100 feet) higher than County Museum locality 4534 and Brigham Crystal Ball Cave. Specimens from these two Young University vertebrate paleontology lo- caves are indistinguishable in the Los Angeles cality 772; the specimens from the cave are County Museum collection because the cave catalogued as LACM 123655-123711 and in which each specimen was recovered was BYUVP 5300-8888, 8911-8933. Taxa recov- not recorded. I dug several test pits in Gandy ered are listed in Table 1. Mountain Cave in 1981 and found preserva- The Crystal Ball Cave assemblage is the tion to be poor and specimens to be few and first Late Wisconsinan age fauna to be de- probably all Recent. So, although some speci- scribed from the state of Utah. Although Utah mens were collected from Gandy Mountain has extensive Pleistocene deposits from Lake Cave, they are not considered in this study, Bonneville, surprisingly few vertebrate fossils except some which may be among the Los have been recovered from them (Miller 1982). Angeles County Museum collection. The only other Pleistocene assemblage that The first extensive collecting in Crystal Ball has been described from Utah is the Silver Cave was done in 1977 by Wade E. Miller and Creek fauna of north central Utah, 22 km (14 his students from Brigham Young University, miles) east ofand 360 m (1200 feet) above Lake No. 3 Basin Naturalist Vol. 45, 340 Great North Entrance CRYSTAL BALL CAVE Millard County, Utah Slope ^ *^ down^ y Step y Column I Stalagmite Jt Breakdown block ^aJ Dome O Ceiling height ifeeti (7) Soil sample local. « East SITE X n Entrance 5 pq M H meters the location offossil .sites. Ball Cave (modiiied from Halliday 1957) showmg Fig. 3. Planimetric map ,,f Crystal July 1985 Heaton: Crystal Ball Cave Fossils 341 Table L List of taxa recovered from Crystal Ball Cave. Minimum number of Current individuals, including range and Taxa recovered Common name referred material status Kingdom Plantae Division Tracheophyta Class Gymnospermae Subclass Gneteae Family Ephedraceae Ephedra cf viridis Mormon tea Class Angiospermae * Subclass Dicotyledoneae Family Asteraceae Chnjsothammis sp. rabbitbrush Haplopappus nanus goldenweed Perityle stansburii rockdaisy Family Brassicaceae mustard Family Cactaceae Opuntia sp. Family Caprifoliaceae Symplioricarpos cf. longiflorus snowberry Family Poaceae cf Ehjmus wildrye cf Panicum panicgrass Kingdom Animalia Phylum Mollusca Class Gastropoda Order Pulmonata Family Helicidae Oreohelix strigosa land snail Phylum Arthropoda Class Crustacea Order Isopoda Family ? Armadillidae pill bug Class Insecta Order Coleoptera Family Scarabaeidae Aphodius distinctus dung beetle Phylum Chordata Class Osteichthyes Infraclass Teleosti fish Class Reptilia Order Squamata lizards and snake * X 3 Class Aves birds * X 3 Class Mammalia Order Insectivora Family Soricidae Sorex sp. shrew Order Chiroptera Family Vespertilionidae MyOtis sp. mouse-eared bat 2 ? Plecotus townsendii Townsend's big-eared bat + 3 Antrozous pallidas pallid bat (large bat) 2 Key to symbols; * Taxon has been reported living in the Snake Range in Recent times by Durrant (1952) and/or Hall (1981). i Taxon lives in the Snake Range but was introduced by man in Recent times. e Taxon has been extirpated from the Snake Range. t Taxon is extinct. + Taxon has been captured live in Crystal Ball Cave by author. pers. pers. , 1984, ; X Taxon has been reported in Snake Valley near Candy by J. C. Bates (198.3, comm. comm Taxon does not presently live in the Snake Range or Snake Valley. 1 Taxon lives in the Snake Range but rarely if ever comes as low as Snake Valley. 2 Taxon lives in the Snake Range and occasionally comes into Snake Valley. 3 Taxon presently lives in Snake Valley around Candy. 342 Great Basin Naturalist Vol. 45, No. 3 Table 1 continued. Minimum number of Current individuals, including range and Taxa recovered Common name referred material status Order Lagomorpha Family Ochotonidae Ochotona princeps pika Family Leporidae Sylvilagus idahoensis pigmy rabbit Sylvilagus
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