Cumberland Cave
Basic information
Sample name: Cumberland Cave
Sample aka: Cumberland Bone Cave
Reference: J. W. Gidley and C. L. Gazin. 1938. The Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from Cumberland Cave Maryland. United States National Museum Bulletin 171:1-99 [ER 3848]
Geography
Country: United States
State: Maryland
County: Allegany
Coordinate: 39.69° N, -78.79° W
Latlng basis: estimated from map
Time interval: Middle Pleistocene
Max Ma: 0.79
Min Ma: 0.722
Age basis: ESR
Geography comments: adjacent to a railway track "just south of Corriganville" (coordinate estimated from a Google map)
the election is "837 feet"
there are two ESR dates on Platygonus molars of 790 +/- 53 and 722 +/- 64 ka: see Withnell et al. (2020)
the election is "837 feet"
there are two ESR dates on Platygonus molars of 790 +/- 53 and 722 +/- 64 ka: see Withnell et al. (2020)
Environment
Lithology: siliciclastic (mixed)
Taphonomic context: cave, pitfall trap
Habitat comments: the cave was developed in "Devonian limestone" and the sediment is "cave clays and breccias, unevenly hardened and more or less cemented together by stalactitic materials"
thought by Gidley to have been a pitfall trap, with "no signs" of water transport such as water wear on the bones or sand or gravel
thought by Gidley to have been a pitfall trap, with "no signs" of water transport such as water wear on the bones or sand or gravel
Methods
Life forms: bats, carnivores, rodents, ungulates, other small mammals, birds, snakes, other reptiles
Sampling methods: quarry
Sample size: 417 specimens
Sampled by: J. W. Gidley
Years: 1912 - 1915
Net or trap nights: 0
Basal area status: not applicable
Sampling comments: collected by "quarrying"
Metadata
Sample no: 4213
Contributor no: John Alroy
Enterer: John Alroy
Created: 2023-04-09 17:33:48
Modified: 2023-04-09 07:33:48
Abundance distribution
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts. Values are logged.
Statistics
48 species
20 singletons
total count 417
geometric series index: 101.2
Fisher's α: 14.009
geometric series k: 0.9141
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.9204
Shannon's H: 2.9926
Good's u: 0.9521
Register
| Crocodylia indet. | 1 | |
| Serpentes indet. | 3 | |
| "Ophidia": "several" vertebrae, so at least three | ||
| Bonasa umbellus | 1 | 566.0 g |
| Sorex sp. | 1 | |
| Blarina brevicauda | 11 | 15.1 g |
| Eptesicus cf. fuscus | 68 | |
| "Eptesicus cf. grandis" | ||
| Corynorhinus alleganiensis = †Plecotus alleganiensis | 34 | |
| †Canis armbrusteri | 27 | |
| plus "several" limb bones and vertebrae | ||
| †Canis cf. priscolatrans | 1 | |
| Euarctos vitabilis = Ursus americanus (American black bear) | 60 | 115.0 kg |
| plus "a large amount" of postcrania | ||
| †Arctodus pristinus (lesser short-faced bear) | 1 | |
| "Arctodus haplodon" | ||
| †Pekania diluviana | 11 | |
| "Martes parapennanti": see Nowak (1971) | ||
| Mustela vison = Neogale cf. vison (American mink) | 12 | |
| Gulo gidleyi = †Gulo schlosseri (wolverine) | 2 | |
| other specimens may be present | ||
| Lutra parvicuspis = Lontra canadensis (North American river otter) | 1 | |
| Brachyprotoma pristina = †Brachyprotoma obtusata | 7 | |
| Spilogale marylandensis = Spilogale putorius (eastern spotted skunk) | 1 | |
| Taxidea taxus (American badger) | 1 | |
| "Taxidea marylandica": see Long (1964) | ||
| †Miracinonyx cf. inexpectatus (cat) | 1 | |
| "Felis cf. inexpectata" | ||
| Panthera sp. | 4 | |
| near "Felis atrox" | ||
| Marmota monax | 10 | 4.5 kg |
| count is a minimum | ||
| Ictidomys cf. tridecemlineatus | 1 | |
| "Citellus cf. tridecemlineatus" | ||
| Tamias cf. striatus | 1 | 113.0 g |
| Tamiasciurus hudsonicus tenuidens | 7 | 187.0 g |
| "Sciurus (Tamiasciurus) tenuidens": see Steele (1998) | ||
| Glaucomys sp. | 1 | |
| †Thomomys potamacensis | 5 | |
| "Plesiothomomys potamacensis": see Thaeler (1980) | ||
| Castor canadensis | 1 | 11.0 kg |
| Peromyscus cf. leucopus | 8 | 21.0 g |
| Neotoma magister | 3 | |
| †Parahodomys spelaeus | 2 | |
| apparently valid, see Genoways and Birney (1974) | ||
| Synaptomys cooperi | 1 | 29.0 g |
| Mictomys sp. | 1 | |
| "Synaptomys (Mictomys) sp.": see Ruez and Gensler (2008) | ||
| Arvicolinae indet. | 7 | |
| "Microtus cf. involutus": see Martin (2012) | ||
| †Ondatra cf. annectens | 1 | |
| valid, see Martin (1976) | ||
| Zapus sp. | 1 | |
| Napaeozapus cf. insignis | 1 | 22.7 g |
| Erethizon cf. dorsatum | 15 | |
| Ochotona sp. | 9 | |
| Lepus cf. americanus | 29 | 1.4 kg |
| †Mammut cf. americanum (American mastodon) | 5 | |
| Equus sp. | 6 | |
| Tapirus sp. | 3 | |
| †Platygonus vetus (peccary) | 41 | |
| questionably referred: includes "Platygonus cumberlandensis", see Prothero and Grenader (2012); "a large number" of postcrania are not tallied | ||
| †Mylohyus fossilis (peccary) | 2 | |
| "Mylohyus exortivus": see Westgate and Messick (1985) | ||
| †Mylohyus cf. nasutus (peccary) | 1 | |
| "Mylohyus cf. pennsylvanicus": see Westgate and Messick (1985) | ||
| Cervus sp. | 1 | |
| Odocoileus cf. virginianus (white-tailed deer) | 3 | |
| "several" jaw fragments | ||
| †Euceratherium americanum | 3 | |
| possibly valid | ||