Quaternary paleontology and paleoecology of Crystal Ball Cave, Millard County, Utah: with emphasis on mammals and description of a new species of fossil skunk

The Great Basin Naturalist Published AT Piuno, Utah, by Brigham Young University-ISSN 0017-3614 Volume 45 31 July 1985 No. 3 QUATERNARY PALEONTOLOGY AND PALEOECOLOGY OF CRYSTAL BALL CAVE, MILLARD COUNTY, UTAH: WITH EMPHASIS ON MAMMALS AND DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF FOSSIL SKUNK Timothy H. Beaton' Abstract — Crystal Ball Cave is located in a small outlier of the Snake Range in Snake Valley 1.7 km (1 mile) west of Lake Bonneville at its highest level. Original vertebrate skeletal material (mostly mammalian) has been found in shallow dry dust 61 m (200 feet) inside the cave. Radiocarbon dates show that fossils have been accumulating since at least 23,000 Y. B. P. It appears that wood rats and possibly small carnivores transported the fossils into the cave because only the smallest elements of large mammals are represented. The fossil assemblage represents a much more boreal community than the present local fauna. Fish, Ondatra zibethictis, and Mustela cf. vison, which require perennial water, were recovered, as were Ochotona princeps, Lepus cf. americana, Microtus cf. pennsylvanicus, Vulpes vulpes, and Martes americana, which have also been extirpated from the Snake Range. Mannota flaviventris, Neotoma cinerea, cf. Cervus elaphus, and Ovis canadensis were recovered but now occur only at higher elevations in the range. Extinct taxa recovered are Smilodon cf fatalis, Equus species, Camelops cf hesternus, Hemiauchenia cf macrocephala, cf Sijmbos cavifrons, and a new species of Brachyprotonui , herein named B. brevimala. This is the first recovery o{ Brachyprotoma from the western United States. Crystal Ball Cave is 4.8 km (3 miles) north-west of the town of Candy, Utah, and 0.9 km (0.6 miles) east of the Utah-Nevada border (Sec. 30, T. 15 S, R. 19 W, Salt Lake Base Line and Meridian) in the northeast side of Candy Mountain, a small outlier on the northeastern edge of the Snake Range (Figs. 1 and 2). The cave is at an elevation of 1760 m (5775 feet), 195 m (644 feet) above Lake Bonneville at its highest level (see Currey 1982, Gilbert 1890) and has about 150 m (500 feet) of passage and a floor area of about 1860 square m (20,000 square feet). Calcite crystals and speleothems cover most of the cave walls and floors, but some shallow sediments are present that con-tain locally abundant unaltered vertebrate fossils. It is uncertain if native Americans knew of Crystal Ball Cave, for no ancient human arti-facts were found in this study. The cave was discovered by the late George Sims of Candy in February 1956. He found the original 1-m (3-foot) diameter entrance that leads into a large chamber (Fig. 3). The original east en-trance was enlarged, the north entrance was blasted out through a soil-filled passage at the other end of the cave (Fig. 3), and other im-provements were made by Cecil R. and Jerald C. Bates of Candy, Utah, and Thomas E. Sims of Elko, Nevada (J. C. Bates 1983, pers. comm.). Herbert H. Gerisch and Robert Patterson collected bones from site 1 (Fig. 3) in 1956 that they donated to the Los Angeles County Mu-Department of Geology. Brigham Young Un Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. versity, Provo, Utah 84602. Present address; Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 337