Natural Trap Cave is a sinkhole cave located in Big Horn County in northern Wyoming. The cave preserves many Quaternary taxa, including pollen and large carnivorous and herbivorous mammals such as various felids and ungulates. Many of these taxa went extinct in North America following the late Pleistocene megafaunal extinction. The cave was first excavated in the 1970s and 80s by teams from the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri, and more recently by teams from Des Moines University, The University of Adelaide, and The University of Rochester, along with a wide variety of volunteers. Specimens from this cave have been used to elucidate floral change in the area, disentangle ancient food webs, and extend the hypothesized range for Beringian wolves. Horses are the most common megafaunal group from this site, encompassing two genera: Equus and Haringtonhippus, the “New World stilt‐legged” horse, based on post‐cranial elements and mitochondrial DNA. Some recent studies have shown that horse taxa can be identified by tooth occlusal surface morphology. This study aims to test if isolated equid cheek teeth from Natural Trap Cave can be identified to the genus level, between Equus and Haringtonhippus using geometric morphometrics. 2D landmarks and sliding semi‐landmarks were taken around the periphery of a set of upper cheek teeth, including the areas of greatest curvature at the metastyle, mesostyle, parastyle, and around the protocone and post protoconal valley. Principal component analyses on known specimens do in fact separate Equus and Haringtonhippus, and this difference is statistically sigificant, with the primary difference being the width of the protocone. Additionally, molars and premolars also occupied significantly different areas of morphospace, opening up the possibility of identifying tooth position on unknown specimens as well. With the abundance of isolated horse teeth (either Equus or Haringtonhippus) from Natural Trap Cave, having a reliable means to distinguish between genera will allow us to better study the ecological differences between them and better understand the environment and faunal interactions in late Pleistocene Wyoming. Support or Funding Information NSF EAR/SGP 1425059 (Natural Trap Cave Revisited: Ancient DNA, Climate and the Megafaunal Extinction) Julie Meachen, PI
THE glacial sands of Comiston near Edinburgh have long been used for building purposes, and were also of use at one time in furnishing the city with part of its supply of water. Before the sand-pit, which is the subject of these notes, was opened, the supply of sand for building was obtained from an extensive pit on the east side of the public road from Edinburgh to Fairmilehead. When the supply became exhausted, the present one was opened on the west side of the road, and opposite to the old pit. The quarrying of the sand at first was carried on eastwards towards the road. Here rock, most probably in situ, began to appear coming up through the sand, and the quarrying was stopped in this direction and diverted westwards. About three years ago the workings exposed a sheet or mass of rock of volcanic origin lying horizontally on the top of the current-bedded sand and gravel. It varied from 4 to 8 or 9 ft. in thickness, and a length of 45 or 50 yds. in an east and west direction was at one time exposed. The appearance at the present time is somewhat different.The diagram (Fig. 1) shows the contours of the ground near Comiston, and also indicates roughly the extent of the sands and gravels. It will also serve to show the probable method of their formation. We must suppose that a lake was dammed on one side by the margin of the ice-sheet which occupied the central valley of Scotland, at a period of its retreat when it extended only a little to the south of where the city of Edinburgh now •stands. The southern boundary of the lake must have been formed by the Fairmilehead ridge, and the eastern by the Braid Hills. In this lake the deposits were laid down. Confirmatory evidence of its existence may be found in the presence, somewhat west from Fairmilehead, of an old overflow channel, shown in the diagram, and draining to the south across the ridge. The depth of sand in the eastern part of Comiston sand-pit is only about 20 ft. ; it rests on a floor of boulder-clay, perhaps extremely thin, as at one or two points rock was found projecting through it which may have been in place. In the western part of the quarry the sand is much mixed with gravel, and the total thickness is greater. The gravel consists of rounded pebbles whifch are mainly Carboniferous. A few, however, are of High- 21, 2015 at Monash University on June http://trned.lyellcollection.org/ Downloaded from
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