Sassafras Cave (Pleistocene of the United States)

Also known as OMNH Locality V566

Where: Adair County, Oklahoma (35.8° N, 94.6° W: paleocoordinates 35.8° N, 94.6° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Late/Upper Pleistocene (0.1 - 0.0 Ma)

• "late Rancholabrean (late Pleistocene)... the sediments had accumulated... to a depth of at least 1.6 m"

•AMS dating on tapir bone was attempted but did not succeed

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: cave; unlithified, brown, sandy claystone

• "possibly accumulated in an ephemeral subterranean pond behind a pile of breakdown boulders that presently occupies the passage, forming a dam"
• "in a mud bank on the floor of the main passage... unconsolidated sediments... red brown, yellow brown, and dark brown sandy clay interspersed with structureless blebs of bright red clay"

Size class: macrofossils

Collected by C. Russell, S. Russell in 2001

Collection methods: bulk, surface (in situ), sieve,

• vertebrates other than the tapir were recovered by "screenwashing"

Primary reference: N. J. Czaplewski, W. L. Puckette, and C. Russell. 2002. A Pleistocene tapir and associated mammals from the southwestern Ozark Highland. 64(2):97-107 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 93183: authorized by John Alroy, entered by John Alroy on 06.01.2010

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Amphibia
 Caudata -
Caudata indet. salamander
Mammalia
 Rodentia - Cricetidae
Reithrodontomys sp. Giglioli 1874 harvest mouse
Microtus sp. Schrank 1798 vole
compared to pinetorum and ochrogaster
Peromyscus sp. Gloger 1841 deer mouse
 Rodentia - Sciuridae
Tamias striatus Linnaeus 1758 eastern chipmunk
 Perissodactyla - Tapiridae
"Tapirus veroensis" = Tapirus (Helicotapirus) veroensis
"Tapirus veroensis" = Tapirus (Helicotapirus) veroensis Sellards 1918 tapir
 Chiroptera - Vespertilionidae
Lasionycteris noctivagans Le Conte 1831 silver-haired bat
Myotis sp. Kaup 1829 vesper bat
Pipistrellus subflavus Cuvier 1832 eastern pipistrelle bat