Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

Journal of Paleontology

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (2) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by MARTIN, R. A. Articles by PELÁEZ-CAMPOMANES, P. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

LATE PLIOCENE AND EARLY PLEISTOCENE RODENTS FROM THE NORTHERN BORCHERS BADLANDS (MEADE COUNTY, KANSAS), WITH COMMENTS ON THE BLANCAN-IRVINGTONIAN BOUNDARY IN THE MEADE BASIN

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky 42071, <robert.martin{at}murraystate.edu>
² Geology Section, University of Colorado, Boulder 80309-0315
³ Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, C.S.I.C., José Gutierrez Abascal 2, Madrid 28006, Spain

New fossiliferous localities in the Borchers Badlands of southwestern Kansas add to our knowledge of rodent community change across the Plio-Pleistocene and Blancan-Irvingtonian boundaries. We report fossil rodents from ten local faunas in the Badlands that range stratigraphically from beneath the Huckleberry Ridge ash (2.10 Ma [million years ago]) to a level just beneath the Cerro Toledo B ash (1.23–1.47 Ma). The late Blancan Borchers local fauna (l.f.), includes the Meade Basin highest stratigraphic datum (HSD) for the following taxa that characterize or are found in earlier Blancan faunas: Alilepus, Geomys quinni, Sigmodon minor, and Geochelone. Borchers currently also has the HSDs for Reithrodontomys pratincola and Ondatra zibethicus /idahoensis, but the prior temporal distribution of these taxa in the Meade Basin is unknown. The stratigraphically lowest Pleistocene (Irvingtonian) l.f. in the Badlands, Nash 72, includes the lowest stratigraphic datum (LSD) for Cynomys, Reithrodontomys moorei, Microtus, and Mictomys kansasensis, all of which are found above Nash 72 and beneath the Cerro Toledo B ash. Prodipodomys is last seen at Nash 72, and Sigmodon curtisi is first encountered at Short Haul, a locality slightly younger than Nash 72. A preliminary hypothesis of age based on stratigraphic position places the Nash 72 l.f. at about 1.80 Ma, suggesting that this fauna and the genus Microtus may characterize both the Plio-Pleistocene and Blancan-Irvingtonian boundaries in the Borchers Badlands.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				F. MARCOLINI, P. PIRAS, and R. A. MARTIN TESTING EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS ON FIRST LOWER MOLARS OF PLIOCENE OGMODONTOMYS (ARVICOLIDAE, RODENTIA) FROM THE MEADE BASIN OF SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS (USA): A LANDMARK-BASED APPROACH Palaios, August 1, 2009; 24(8): 535 - 543. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]