Extraordinary Accumulation of Arvicoline Rodents From Little Dell Dam (Pleistocene), Utah
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Southwestern Naturalist
Abstract
An accumulation of Pleistocene owl pellets (strigilites) containing 30 arvicoline rodent teeth was found at the Little Dell Dam fossil site outside of Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, in 1992. The accumulation was recovered in a single block of matrix with partially exposed teeth. We used high-resolution x-ray computed tomography (CT) to segment, digitally prepare, and describe teeth belonging to Allophaiomys pliocaenicus, Mictomys kansasensis, or Mictomys meltoni, and a previously recognized but unnamed morphotype of Phenacomys. Digital preparation revealed 10 associated upper or lower dentitions of those taxa. A reinterpretation of the age of the site (â 150 thousand years ago) using arvicoline rodent biochronology was made based on recent research at Cathedral Cave, Nevada. The new estimate is a much younger age for the Little Dell Dam fauna from Locality 2 than was previously reported.
DOI
10.1894/0038-4909-66.2.91
Publication Date
8-8-2022
ISSN
0038-4909
Recommended Citation
Withnell CB, Bell CJ, Jass CN. Extraordinary Accumulation of Arvicoline Rodents From Little Dell Dam (Pleistocene), Utah. Southwestern Naturalist. 2022; 66(2). doi: 10.1894/0038-4909-66.2.91.
