Arthropods

Adapted from: Elias, Scott A., J. I. Mead, and Larry D. Agenbroad. 1992. Late Quaternary arthropods from the Colorado Plateau, Arizona and Utah. Great Basin Naturalist 52: 59-67.

Late Pleistocene fossil arthropods have been recovered from dry cave deposits and packrat middens throughout the arid Southwest. On the Colorado Plateau Scott Elias and his colleagues have described the fossil arthropods from selected areas of Grand Canyon, Canyonlands, and Glen Canyon national parks. They identified 57 taxa of insects, arachnids, and millipedes, including 15 taxa taken to the species level.

These investigations are beginning to show substantial results, but are not yet sufficiently detailed to allow precise paleoenvironmental reconstructions. However, for both the Grand Canyon and Glen Canyon regions, the available insect data suggest a cooler, moister climatic regime during the late Pleistocene. Montane-adapted species lived at lower elevations. The insects document the presence of conifers at the sites but also suggest that a mosaic of vegetation types was locally represented, including grassland and shrubby terrain. Additional studies will undoubtedly help to clarify the precise nature and timing of the shift to postglacial climates which occurred sometime after 14,000 yr B.P.

Packrat Midden Research in the Grand Canyon. On the Colorado Plateau the ice age (Pleistocene) vegetation of the Grand Canyon has been determined through the analysis of plant fossils preserved in caves and fossil packrat middens.  Large changes occurred as the most recent ice age ended and the Holocene era began. Adapted by Kenneth L. Cole from his published journal article.

Betancourt, J. L., Devender, T. R. V. and Martin, P. S., editors. 1990. Packrat middens: The last 40,000 years of biotic change. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.

Cole, K. L. 1990. Late Quaternary vegetation gradients through the Grand Canyon. Pp. 240-258 In:  Betancourt, J. L., Martin, P. S. and Devender, T. R. V., editors. Packrat middens: The last 40,000 years of biotic change. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

Davis, O. K., Agenbroad, L. D., Martin, P. S. and Mead, J. I. 1984. The Pleistocene dung blanket of Bechan Cave, Utah. Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Special Publication 8: 267-282.

Elias, S. A., Mead, J. I. and Agenbroad, L. D. 1992. Late Quaternary arthropods from the Colorado Plateau, Arizona and Utah. Great Basin Naturalist 52: 59-67.

Elias, S. A. 1994. Quaternary insects and their environments. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 256 pp.

Hansen, R. M. 1980. Late Pleistocene plant fragments in the dung of herbivores at Cowboy Cave. Pp. 179-189 In:  Jennings, J. D., editor. Cowboy Cave. Anthropological Papers, Vol. 104. University of Utah, Provo.

Laudermilk, J. D. 1938. Plants in the dung of Nothrotherium from Rampart and Muav Caves, Arizona. Pp. 271-281 In:  Laudermilk, J. D., editor. Studies on Cenozoic vertebrates of western North America. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C.

Laudermilk, J. D. and Munz, P. A. 1938. Plants in the dung of Nothrotherium from Gypsum Cave, Nevada. Pp. 31-37 In:  Laudermilk, J. D., editor. Studies on Cenozoic vertebrates of western North America. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C.

Martin, P. S., Sabels, B.E., and Shutler, D. 1961. Rampart Cave coprolites and the ecology of the Shasta Ground Sloth. American Journal of Science 259: 102-127.

Martinsen, G. D., Driebe, E. M. and Whitham, T. G. 1998. Indirect interactions mediated by changing plant chemistry: beaver browsing benefits beetles. Ecology 79: 192-200.

Mead, J. I. 1983. Harrington's extinct mountain goat (Oreamnos harringtoni) and its environment in the Grand Canyon, Arizona. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Arizona, Tucson, 215 pp.

Mead, J. I., Agenbroad, L. D., Davis, O. K. and Martin, P. S. 1986. Dung of Mammuthus in the arid southwest, North America. Quaternary Research 25: 121-127.

Mead, J. I., O'Rourke, M. K. and Foppe, T. M. 1986. Dung and diet of the extinct Harrington's mountain goat (Oreamnos harrintoni). Journal of Mammology 67: 284-293.

Mead, J. I., Agenbroad, L. D. and Davis, O. K. 1987. Extinct mountain goat (Oreamnos harringtoni) in southeastern Utah. Quaternary Research 27: 323-333.

O'Rourke, M. K. and Mead, J. I. 1985. Late Pleistocene and Holocene pollen records from two caves in the Grand Canyon of Arizona, USA. Pp. 169-186 In:  Jacobs, B. F., Fall, P. F. and Davis, O. K., editors. Late Quaternary vegetation and climates of the American Southwest. Contributions Series Number 16.  American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists, Houston, TX.

Sublette, J. E., Stevens, L. and Shannon, J. P. 1998. Chironomidae (Diptera) of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, Arizona, U.S.A., I: Taxonoly and ecology. The Great Basin Naturalist 58: 97-146.