Polecat Creek (alluvial gravel)
Basic information
Sample name: Polecat Creek (alluvial gravel)

Reference: E. C. Galbreath. 1938. Post-glacial fossil vertebrates from east-central Illinois. Geological Series of Field Museum of Natural History 6(20):303-313 [ER 3210]
Geography
Country: United States

State: Illinois


Coordinate: 39.51° N, -88.01° W
Coordinate basis: stated in text

Time interval: Late Pleistocene

Section: 3210

Unit number: 2

Unit order: above to below

Geography comments: "in the Polecat Creek gravel pits, one mile south of Ashmore in the north half of sec. 6, T. 12 N., R. 11 E."

Environment
Lithology: conglomerate

Taphonomic context: fluvial deposit

Habitat comments: "a layer, two or three feet in thickness, of gravel impregnated with iron oxide. Lenses of black muck containing many mollusks and fragments of wood are frequently encountered in this stratum"

Methods
Life forms: carnivores,primates,rodents,ungulates,other large mammals,other small mammals,birds,turtles

Sampling methods: quarry

Sample size: 50 specimens

Sampling comments: the "operator of the gravel pits... cooperated in saving specimens for more than ten years"
Homo sapiens, Ondatra zibethicus, Canis lupus, Procyon lotor, Ursus cf. arctos, Cervus canadensis, Cervalces scotti, Odocoileus virginianus, Bison bison, Meleagris gallopavo, Terrapene ornata, "Pseudemys", and Chrysemys are "probably" from the alluvial gravel but were not recovered in situ
wood and clams and snails are listed but not counted

Metadata
Sample number: 3521

Contributor: John Alroy

Enterer: John Alroy

Created: 2019-09-11 12:20:02

Modified: 2023-04-29 01:50:36

Abundance distribution
21 species
16 singletons
total count 50
geometric series index: 125.7
Fisher's α: 13.628
geometric series k: 0.8679
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.8278
Shannon's H: 2.3668
Good's u: 0.6816
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
Register
Blarina brevicauda115.1 g
Sylvilagus floridanus11.1 kg herbivore
Castoroides ohioensis1
Megalonyx sp.1
questionably referred
Canis latrans112 kg carnivore-insectivore
Canis lupus familiaris143 kg carnivore
"Canis familiaris"
Mammut americanum2
Odocoileus virginianus1775 kg herbivore
plus one specimen from the immediately overlying "blue clay"
Ovibovinae indet.1
Bison bison10430 kg
Homo sapiens164 kg
Ondatra zibethicus31.1 kg
"Ondatra zibethica"
Canis lupus143 kg carnivore
Procyon lotor15.5 kg carnivore-granivore
Ursus cf. arctos1156 kg frugivore-carnivore
"Ursus cf. horribilis"
Cervus canadensis1329 kg browser-grazer
Cervalces scotti1
"Cervalces roosevelti"
Meleagris gallopavo17.8 kg omnivore
Terrapene ornata1
Emydidae indet.2
"Pseudemys"
Chrysemys sp.1
questionably referred