Extinction and Extirpation in the Herpetofauna of the Southern High Plains with Emphasis on Geochelone wilsoni (Testudinidae)
Moodie KB and Van Devender TR. 1979. Extinction and Extirpation in the Herpetofauna of the Southern High Plains with Emphasis on Geochelone wilsoni (Testudinidae). Herpetologica. 35(3):198-206
Geochelone wilsoni is reported from Dry Cave, New Mexico, and the Lubbock Lake and Buckner Ranch sites, Texas. Paleocological data from the six fossil localities containing G. wilsoni suggest an enviroment more mesic than today, with mild winters and cool summers for the southern High Plains, in Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. The extinctions of G. wilsoni, Terrapene carolina putnami, and Bufo woodhousei bexarensis in the southern High Plains and the extipation of Gopherus aggassizi from the northern Chihuahuan Desert are discussed in terms of changing climates and vegetations, and predation by Paleoindians.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Moodie, Kevin; Van Devender, Thomas
- Units
- ORPI
- Keywords
- paleozoology