AMERICAN BADGER (TAXIDEA TAXUS) FROM THE MID-IRVINGTONIAN FAIRMEAD LANDFILL LOCALITY, MADERA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

Badgers (Taxidea taxus) first appeared in North America during the late Pliocene. Several Blancan and Irvingtonian localities record the species and badgers are common in Rancholabrean faunas of western North America. Three badger specimens from Fairmead Landfill are curated in the collections of the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) and Madera County Paleontology Collection (MCPC). The mid-Irvingtonian aged (0.78–.55 Ma) Fairmead Landfill site has yielded thousands of fossils representing 72 taxa (2 fish, 2 amphibians, 3 reptiles, 6 birds, 29 mammals, 1 bivalve, 1 gastropod, 12 plants/palynomorphs, and 16 diatoms). Fossils are preserved in sediments representing distal alluvial fan channel, distal fan overbank flood or sheetflood, and marsh/lacustrine deposits of the upper unit of the Turlock Lake Formation. Badger specimens from Fairmead Landfill include UCMP 156954 (left maxilla with P3-P4), MCPC A2197 (skull), and MCPC A1182 (parietals and other cranial fragments). UCMP 156954 compares well morphologically with modern badger specimens. Although the P4 has slight posterior damage, the minimum labial carnassial length is 11.1 mm, about the mean size of modern male badgers in the West. The dental characteristics of MCPC A2197 cannot be studied because the jaw and cranium cannot be disarticulated without causing significant damage to the specimen. However, measurements of the cranium indicate a very large individual, bigger than modern male badgers in the West. Zygomatic breadth is 107 mm, labial length of the upper carnassial is 12.5 mm, alveolar length of the maxillary tooth row is 50.5 mm, postorbital breadth is 47+ mm (slight damage to one postorbital process), and greatest length of the cranium is 145+ mm (significant damage to the occipital condyles). Occurrence of badgers at Fairmead Landfill is not unexpected. The species’ historical range includes the central San Joaquin Valley. The fossil locality’s biota indicates a predominantly grassland habitat, with some scrubland and sparse trees. The site’s rodent taxa, including ground squirrel, pocket gopher, voles, rats and mice would have provided adequate prey. The Fairmead Landfill specimens are significant in documenting the presence of badgers in the central San Joaquin Valley by at least the mid Pleistocene.