Age. Late
Wisconsin.
General Description.
A shallow cave in a small tributary of the Colorado River 15 miles downstream from Hoover Dam. The cave is about 12.3 m wide, 3.4 m to the ceiling from the top of the fill, and 12.4 m long (Hibbard and Wright 1956).
The cave is the type locality of Ovis catclawensis (Hibbard and Wright 1956). The material on which the taxon is based is a portion of a right lower jaw found in a woodrat nest. It was described as of larger size and with wider premolars and molars than known North American living and fossil species of Ovis (Hibbard and Wright 1956). Harris and Mundel (1974) synonymized Ovis catclawensis with O. canadensis, but noted that O. canadensis catclawensis could be recognized as a chronological subspecies.
Fauna.
Ovis canadensis—Bighorn Sheep (Hibbard and Wright 1956)
Ovis catclawensis
Literature. Harris and Mundel 1974; Hibbard and Wright 1956.
Last Update: 4 Dec 2012