UROCYON AND THE RANCHOLABREAN CANIDS FROM SNAKE CREEK BURIAL CAVE, SNAKE RANGE, NEVADA

Snake Creek Burial Cave in the southern Snake Range of White Pine County, Nevada is a natural trap cave located immediately above the high stand of Lake Bonneville. Ongoing accumulation has produced a large bone deposit; in particular, an abundance of Rancholabrean-aged carnivores. This fossiliferous deposit is bounded by AMS date on wood at the top and a U-Th date on a horse phalanx at the bottom, placing its age between 9,460 ± 160 and 15,100 ± 700 yr B.P. Several vulpine and two canine species (Mammalia, Carnivora, Canidae) were recovered from this deposit, including Vulpes vulpes (red fox), V. velox (swift fox), V. macrotis (kit fox), Urocyon cinereoargenteus (gray fox), Canis latrans (coyote), and C. lupus (gray wolf). Specimens collected were primarily isolated teeth, with one complete skull and several dentary and maxillary bones. Using modern specimens as a template, comparative dental analysis through tooth measurements was inconclusive for species differentiation. However, when combined with tooth characters, the measurement data provided positive identification of the small vulpine species of North America. All teeth show specific characteristics, but the molars are most diagnostic. Measurements on the fossil teeth indicate that there has been no significant change in size since the late Pleistocene. Vulpes vulpes was the most common canid in the deposit and possibly in the region at the time, followed by V. velox. This is the first recorded occurrence of U. cinereoargenteus in a Rancholabrean cave deposit in the Great Basin.