PaleoBios

Faunal data from Cathedral Cave, Nevada, provide insight into biotic changes that occurred within the Great Basin prior to the latest Pleistocene. Taxonomic identifications of lagomorphs from Cathedral Cave were made using a morphological approach intended to minimize geographic and temporal assumptions. Although this approach to identification is conservative, the resultant data set is appropriate for inclusion in future analyses of regional biotic change. Lagomorphs recovered from the site include new regional records of two extinct taxa, Aztlanolagus agilis and Brachylagus coloradoensis. Other lagomorphs from Cathedral Cave include Brachylagus idahoensis, Ochotona sp., and Sylvilagus or Lepus sp. The presence of a posterorinternal reentrant fold on the p3 of some specimens of Ochotona sp. suggests that the range of variation present in the individual teeth of pikas needs to be described in further detail. In contrast to a previously established hypothesis of increasing enamel complexity in the p4 of Aztlanolagus agilis, evaluation of crenulation patterns of Aztlanolagus agilis from Cathedral Cave showed no distinct trends.