Preliminary study of rodents from the Golliher B Assemblage of
Meade County, Kansas, USA
indicates an intense cold period near the end of the Pleistocene

Robert A. Martin, Pablo Peláez-Campomanes, and James G. Honey

ABSTRACT

An assemblage of rodents recovered from a thin layer of sediments along Sand Creek on the Golliher Ranch in Meade County, Kansas, indicates that cold steppe conditions likely prevailed for a brief time near the close of the Pleistocene around 12,500 radiocarbon years ago. This environment is suggested by the northern disjunct rodents Zapus princeps, Microtus pennsylvanicus, Thomomys cf. talpoides and the presumed cold steppe vole Microtus (Pedomys) parmaleei, n. sp., plus the absence of cotton rats. Comparison of meadow vole m1 crown morphology diversity through the late Pleistocene in Kansas shows that the modern pattern of diversity developed in a brief period of 1500 years, possibly during the Younger Dryas interval. A cement-filled prism fold, a feature commonly encountered in extinct species of Mimomys with rooted molars, appears in three rootless first lower molars of Microtus pennsylvanicus. The Golliher B assemblage helps to fill in the late Pleistocene history of rodents in the ongoing Meade Basin Rodent Project.

Robert A. Martin. Department of Biological Sciences, Murray State University, Murray, KY 42071, USA
Pablo Peláez-Campomanes. Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, C.S.I.C., Jose Gutierrez Abascal 2, Madrid 28006, Spain
James G. Honey. Geology Section, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0315 USA

KEYWORDS: Golliher; rodents; Kansas

PE Article Number: 14.3.35A
Copyright: Society of Vertebrate Paleontology November 2011
Submission: 15 June 2007. Acceptance: 18 May 2011