Giant pika

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Giant pika
Temporal range:
Lower/Middle Pleistocene
to Early Holocene, 1.8–0.01 Ma
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Lagomorpha
Family:
Ochotonidae
Genus:
Ochotona
Species:
O. whartoni
Binomial name
Ochotona whartoni
Guthrie and Matthews, Jr. 1971[1][2]
240px
Fossil distribution of Ochotona whartoni and Ochotona cf. whartoni. Cape Deceit and Old Crow River are red, other sites black.

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Giant pika,[n 1] Wharton's pika[n 2] (Ochotona whartoni) is an extinct Pleistocene and early Holocene species of mammal in the family Ochotonidae,[1] distributed in the northern parts of North America (Alaska, USA and Canada).[2][n 3][4] Very similar forms were found also in Siberia.[8][9]

Distribution

Giant pika was found in Alaska[1][2][6][7] (United States), Yukon[2][6] (O. whartoni[10] and O cf. whartoni,[3][11] large number of locations), Alberta[5] and Ontario (Canada).[4] Ochotona near O. whartoni (O. cf. whartoni) is known from Eastern Siberia and Kolyma as well.[8][9]

Giant pika O. whartoni immigrated from Eurasia to North America during the Early Pleistocene via the Bering Land Bridge, along with small pikas close to the "O. pusilla group". Much earlier at the Miocene-Pliocene boundary came O. spanglei[8] - the oldest Ochotona found in North America, what was followed by approximately three million year long gap in the known North American pikas record.[9]

Detailed fossil distribution

The large form of Ochotona was found in 2 of 5 localities in eastern North America.[4][6]

Biology

Giant pika is much larger than other North American pikas, but of similar size to the extinct early and middle Pleistocene O. complicidens and extant O. koslowi (Koslov's Pika), both from China, and may belong to one of them.[7] Unlike American pika (O. princeps), giant pika habitat might be not scree slopes, but tundra and steppe, similarly to Euroasian pikas.[7]

Occurrence and extinction

Giant pika was found in the North American fauna from Irvingtonian (1.8 - 0.3 Ma, Lower / Middle Pleistocene)[1][6][11] throughout Middle Pleistocene[6][10] to Late Pleistocene (0.1 - 0.0 Ma)[3][5] locations.[2]

But the last occurrence of the giant pika is known from early Holocene from eastern North America (a cave at Elba in the Niagara Escarpment, Ontario[6]) and its radiometric date is 8670±220 years BP (14C age) or 10251-9140 BP (calibrated date).[6][12] It is possible that the large form of Ochotona survived in the rocky areas along the Niagara Escarpment so long as a relict population.[4][6]

Notes

  1. ↑ Common name: giant pika - i.e. Harington 1978,[3] Harington 2003,[4] Mead 1987,[5] according to Harington 2003[4] also Mead 1996.[6]
  2. ↑ Common name: Wharton's pika - Kurten 1980.[7]
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ochotona whartoni in the Paleobiology Database.[2][pdb 1][pdb 2][pdb 3][pdb 4][pdb 5][pdb 6][pdb 7]
  4. ↑ The Paleobiology Database collections: Old Crow River Lower OCR 11 (Pleistocene of Canada)[pdb 8][pdb 2] and Lower OCR 12 (Pleistocene of Canada).[pdb 9][pdb 2]
  5. ↑ The Paleobiology Database collection: Old Crow River site 14N (Pleistocene to of Canada).[pdb 10][pdb 6]
  6. ↑ The Paleobiology Database collection: Old Crow River Locality 44 (Pleistocene of Canada).[pdb 11][pdb 3][pdb 4]
  7. ↑ The Paleobiology Database collection: Thistle Creek (Pleistocene of Canada).[pdb 12][pdb 5]
  8. ↑ The Paleobiology Database collection: Cape Deceit (Pleistocene of the United States).[pdb 13][pdb 1]" />

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Additional references of the Paleobiology Database

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. [J. Alroy/J. Alroy/M. Uhen]
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. [J. Marcot/J. Marcot]
  7. ↑ Additional contributors to utilized records of Paleobiology Database (authorizers supplying these records) include John Alroy, Jonathan Marcot.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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