PBDB Collection

Cueva de Post Office (Superior) (Holocene of Ecuador)

Where: Galapagos, Ecuador (1.2° S, 90.4° W: paleocoordinates 1.2° S, 90.5° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

When: Holocene (0.0 - 0.0 Ma)

Environment/lithology: sinkhole; brown, yellow, silty, sandy gravel

• Near the entrance, the floor of each cave was littered with hundreds of bones, as well as pieces of wood. The sediments from the different test pits are broadly similar to each other. They are very inorganic, being derived from basalts, with some secondary minerals (gypsum, flourite, apatite, minor calcite).

•

•brown (5 YR 3/4 wet), poorly laminated, poorly sorted; pebbly, sandy, silty clay alternating with sandy, silty clay; contacts poorly defined (dashed lines); clasts basaltic, very angular to sub-rounded; no reaction with 10% HCI; maximum observed thickness = 36 cm

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Primary reference: D. W. Steadman. 1986. Holocene Vertebrate Fossils from Isla Floreana, Galapagos. Smithsonian contributions to zoology 413:1-112 [E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 190845: authorized by Evangelos Vlachos, entered by Evangelos Vlachos on 19.12.2017

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names

Mammalia
Rodentia - Muridae	Rattus rattus, Mus musculus Rattus rattus Linnaeus 1758 black rat introduced by man Mus musculus Linnaeus 1758 house mouse introduced by man
Aves
Aves -	Aves indet. Aves indet. bird
Columbiformes - Columbidae	Zenaida galapagoensis Zenaida galapagoensis Gould 1841 Galapagos dove
Passeriformes -	Passeriformes indet. Passeriformes indet. Linnaeus 1758 perching bird
Passeriformes - Mimidae	Mimus trifasciatus Mimus trifasciatus Gould 1837 Floreana mockinbird
Passeriformes - Thraupidae	Geospiza indet., Geospiza magnirostris, Geospiza fortis, Geospiza fuliginosa Geospiza indet. Gould 1837 Darwin's finch Geospiza magnirostris Gould 1837 large ground-finch Geospiza fortis Gould 1837 medium ground-finch Geospiza fuliginosa Gould 1837 small ground-finch
Reptilia
Squamata - Tropiduridae	Tropidurus grayii Tropidurus grayii ground lizard
Squamata - Colubridae	Alsophis biserialis Alsophis biserialis colubrid snake
Squamata - Gekkonidae	Phyllodactylus baurii Phyllodactylus baurii leaf-toed gecko
Testudines - Testudinidae	Geochelone elephantopus Geochelone elephantopus Harlan 1827 Galapagos giant tortoise