Natural Chimneys
Basic information
Sample name: Natural Chimneys
Reference: J. E. Guilday. 1962. The Pleistocene local fauna of the Natural Chimneys, Augusta County, Virginia. Annals of the Carnegie Museum 36(9):87-122 [ER 3219]
Geography
Country: United States
State: Virginia
County: Augusta
Coordinate: 38° 22' N, 79° 5' W
Latlng basis: stated in text
Time interval: Late Pleistocene
Geography comments: "one mile north of the town of Mt. Solon... the major portion of the bones was removed from the floor of Brown's Cave, although a few... were found in wall cracks in the Cave of the Wooden Steps"
there is a typo in the published longitude value, which reads 30º 22' N. 70º 5' W.
"not a temporal unit... late Pleistocene and early Recent" but Guilday believes extinct megafauna to have survived into the "early post-Wisconsin" and thinks the fauna is "very close in time" to the late Pleistocene "New Paris #4" fauna, and later authors such as Guilday et al. (1964) and Holman (Fossil Snakes of North America) assign it to the late Pleistocene
there is a typo in the published longitude value, which reads 30º 22' N. 70º 5' W.
"not a temporal unit... late Pleistocene and early Recent" but Guilday believes extinct megafauna to have survived into the "early post-Wisconsin" and thinks the fauna is "very close in time" to the late Pleistocene "New Paris #4" fauna, and later authors such as Guilday et al. (1964) and Holman (Fossil Snakes of North America) assign it to the late Pleistocene
Environment
Lithology: not described
Taphonomic context: bird accumulation, cave
Habitat comments: "a former fissure system... cave fill... contained fragments of dolomite, speleothems, teeth, bone fragments and modern plant rootlets... The deposit of bone accumulated in several ways. Most important was the activity of owls"
Methods
Life forms: bats, carnivores, rodents, ungulates, other small mammals
Sampling methods: quarry
Sample size: 1185 specimens
Sampled by: T. B. Ruhoff
Years: 1949 - 1961
Net or trap nights: 0
Basal area status: not applicable
Sampling comments: a millipede, 31 species of snails, fishes, samalanders, frogs, turtles, lizards, snakes, and birds are listed but not inventoried
Metadata
Sample no: 3539
Contributor no: John Alroy
Enterer: John Alroy
Created: 2019-09-14 20:58:39
Modified: 2019-09-14 11:25:43
Abundance distribution
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts. Values are logged.
Statistics
56 species
7 singletons
total count 1185
geometric series index: 75.1
Fisher's α: 12.213
geometric series k: 0.9169
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.9489
Shannon's H: 3.3431
Good's u: 0.9941
Register
| Sorex cinereus | 77 | 4.1 g |
| Sorex fumeus | 20 | 8.5 g |
| Sorex arcticus | 19 | 8.1 g |
| Sorex palustris | 10 | 11.4 g |
| Sorex hoyi | 13 | |
| "Microsorex hoyi" | ||
| Blarina brevicauda | 115 | 15.1 g |
| compared to the New Paris form and kirtlandi | ||
| Cryptotis parva | 8 | 4.3 g |
| Parascalops breweri | 10 | |
| Scalopus aquaticus | 19 | 94.9 g |
| Condylura cristata | 13 | 52.2 g |
| Myotis keenii | 82 | 4.7 g |
| Myotis sp. | 8 | |
| lucifugus, sodalis, or austroriparius | ||
| Perimyotis cf. subflavus | 10 | 5.0 g |
| "Pipistrellus cf. subflavus" | ||
| †Eptesicus cf. grandis | 6 | |
| Eptesicus cf. fuscus | 2 | |
| Lasiurus borealis | 1 | |
| Marmota monax | 21 | 4.5 kg |
| Ictidomys cf. tridecemlineatus | 17 | |
| "Citellus cf. tridecemlineatus" | ||
| Tamias striatus | 24 | 113.0 g |
| Sciurus carolinensis | 1 | 519.0 g |
| Tamiasciurus cf. hudsonicus | 10 | 187.0 g |
| "Tamiasciurus cf. tenuidens" | ||
| Glaucomys volans | 43 | 67.4 g |
| Glaucomys sabrinus | 50 | 93.4 g |
| Castor canadensis | 2 | 11.0 kg |
| †Castoroides ohioensis | 1 | |
| Peromyscus cf. maniculatus | 68 | 19.1 g |
| Peromyscus cf. leucopus | 19 | 21.0 g |
| Neotoma floridana | 37 | 252.0 g |
| minimum estimate ("at least 37 individuals") | ||
| Synaptomys cooperi | 18 | 29.0 g |
| Synaptomys borealis | 6 | 21.3 g |
| Myodes gapperi | 111 | |
| "Clethrionomys gapperi" | ||
| Phenacomys cf. ungava | 19 | |
| Microtus pennsylvanicus | 45 | 35.7 g |
| Microtus chrotorrhinus | 2 | 33.0 g |
| Microtus xanthognathus | 30 | 68.5 g |
| plus "isolated molars" | ||
| Microtus cf. pinetorum | 118 | |
| compared with "Pitymys pinetorum" | ||
| Ondatra zibethicus | 13 | |
| plus "isolated molars and postcranial scraps" | ||
| Zapus hudsonius | 29 | 15.6 g |
| Napaeozapus cf. insignis | 18 | 22.7 g |
| Erethizon dorsatum | 3 | |
| Lepus cf. americanus | 9 | 1.4 kg |
| Sylvilagus sp. | 4 | |
| questionably referred | ||
| Canis cf. lupus (gray wolf) | 2 | 43.0 kg |
| Vulpes sp. | 1 | |
| Ursus cf. americanus (American black bear) | 1 | 115.0 kg |
| Procyon cf. lotor (raccoon) | 5 | 5.5 kg |
| Martes americana (American marten) | 2 | 946.0 g |
| Pekania pennanti (fisher) | 2 | |
| "Martes pennanti" | ||
| Mustela nivalis (least weasel) | 2 | 61.7 g |
| "Mustela rixosa" | ||
| Neogale frenata (long-tailed weasel) | 4 | |
| "Mustela frenata" | ||
| Neogale vison (American mink) | 7 | |
| "Mustela vison" | ||
| Mephitis mephitis (striped skunk) | 4 | |
| Felidae indet. | 1 | |
| Mylohyus sp. | 6 | |
| questionably referred | ||
| Odocoileus cf. virginianus (white-tailed deer) | 16 | |
| Cervidae indet. | 1 | |
| "possibly Cervus" | ||