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Late Pleistocene galls from the La Brea Tar Pits and their implications for cynipine wasp and native plant distribution in southern California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Anna R. Holden ,
Diane M. Erwin ,
Katherine N. Schick  and
Joyce Gross
Anna R. Holden*
Affiliation:
Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History, 79th at Central Park West, New York City, NY 10024, USA Department of Entomology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, 5801 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036, USA
Diane M. Erwin
Affiliation:
Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Katherine N. Schick
Affiliation:
Essig Museum of Entomology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Joyce Gross
Affiliation:
Berkeley Natural History Museums, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
*
* Corresponding author at: Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History, 79th at Central Park West, New York City, New York 10024, USA. Email Address: aholden@amnh.org, dmerwin@berkeley.edu, kaschick@berkeley.edu, joyceg@berkeley.edu
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Abstract

Thirteen intact cynipine galls (Cynipidae) are identified from the significant late Pleistocene locality of Rancho La Brea, mostly within the range of approximately 30,000 to 48,000 14 C yr BP. Late Cenozoic cynipids have a poor fossil record; it is thus of great interest that the provisional dates for this fossil gall collection establish that these insects and their hosts were an important part of the late Pleistocene ecosystem in and around Rancho La Brea. Cynipine host specificity both verifies, as well as augments, the proportionally low record of plants recovered at Rancho La Brea in comparison to records of mammals, birds, and other fauna. Because galler and hosts represent extant species, their climate and habitat restrictions offer a good basis for making paleoecological inferences. In particular, they imply that many of the diverse habitats found in California today, or, at least plant associations with similar environmental restrictions, some presently a distance from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits, existed in the vicinity of this locality during the late Pleistocene. This material also includes previously undescribed species, several of which are morphologically similar to extant comparative material that exhibits a “jumping” behavior, previously believed to be unique to Neuroterus saltatorius Edwards.

Keywords

PaleoenvironmentCynipineGallRancho La BreaPleistocene
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 84 , Issue 3 , November 2015 , pp. 358 - 367
Copyright
University of Washington

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