Giant pika

Giant pika Temporal range: Lower/Middle Pleistocene to Early Holocene, 1.8–0.01 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
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]
Fossil distribution of Ochotona whartoni and Ochotona cf. whartoni. Cape Deceit and Old Crow River are red, other sites black.

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

• Canada
  • Old Crow River,^[7][8][9] Yukon, Irvingtonian (1.8 - 0.3 Ma)^{[n 4]} and Middle Pleistocene (0.8 - 0.1 Ma),^{[n 5]} O cf. whartoni^[2][11] and O. whartoni.^[2]
  • Old Crow River,^[7][8][9] Yukon, Late/Upper Pleistocene^[2] (Late Illinoian-Sangamonian^[4][5])
    (0.1 - 0.0 Ma^{[2][n 6]} / ~125,000-80,000 BP^[4][6]), at least 10 locations,^[4][6] O. cf. whartoni^[2][3]
  • Thistle Creek, Yukon, Middle Pleistocene (0.8 - 0.1 Ma), O. whartoni^{[2][n 7][10]}
  • Eagle Cave, Alberta, >33,000 BP^[4][5]
  • Elba Cave at Elba, Ontario, 8670±220 BP ^[4][6] (the last known occurrence of this species^[4][6][12])
  • Kelso Cave, Ontario, Late Wisconsian (>32,000 BP^[5])^[4][6]

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

• United States
  • Cape Deceit,^[7][8][9] Alaska, Cape Deceit Formation, Irvingtonian (1.8 - 0.3 Ma), O. whartoni,^{[1][2][n 8][4][6]}
    (the species was discovered here^{[1][2][n 3]})
  • Gold Hill Cut at Fairbanks,^[7] Alaska^[4][6][8]
• Russia - only O cf. whartoni
  • From eastern Siberia - Zayarsk site to the Kolyma Range area (Krestovka Sections, Yakutia), in Kolyma from Late Cenozoic^[9]
  • Western Siberia,^[8] but ^[9] mentions only Ochotona as occurring there.

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. 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]}<ref group=pdb name="^[13]" />

References

1. Guthrie, R.D.; Matthews, John V. Jr. (1971). "The Cape Deceit fauna—Early pleistocene mammalian assemblage from the Alaskan arctic". Quaternary Research. 1 (4): 474–510. doi:10.1016/0033-5894(71)90060-3. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
2. "The Paleobiology Database. †Ochotona whartoni Guthrie and Matthews, Jr. 1971 (pika)". Retrieved April 13, 2014.
3. Harington, Charles Richard (1978). Quaternary vertebrate faunas of Canada and Alaska and their suggested chronological sequence. Syllogeus, no. 15. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
4. Harington, Charles Richard (2003). Annotated Bibliography of Quaternary Vertebrates of Northern North America: With Radiocarbon Dates. Ottawa: University of Toronto Press. pp. 228–229. ISBN 978-0802048172. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
5. Mead, Jim I. (1987-06-01). "Quaternary records of pika, Ochotona, in North America". Boreas. Oslo. 16: 165–171. doi:10.1006/qres.1996.0009. ISSN 0300-9483. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
6. Mead, Jim I. (January 1996). "Ochotona (Lagomorpha) from Late Quaternary Cave Deposits in Eastern North America". Quaternary Research. 45 (1): 93–101. doi:10.1006/qres.1996.0009. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
7. Kurtén, Björn (1980). Pleistocene Mammals of North America. Photographs by Elaine Anderson. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 275–276. ISBN 978-0231037334. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
8. Erbajeva, Margarita A.; Mead, Jim I.; Swift, Sandra L. (2003). "Evolution and development of Asian and North American ochotonids" (PDF). Occasional Papers in Earth Sciences No. 5. Palaeontology Program Government of the Yukon: 33–34. Retrieved April 13, 2014. 3rd INTERNATIONAL MAMMOTH CONFERENCE, 2003: PROGRAM AND ABSTRACTS, Edited by John E. Storer
9. Erbajeva, Margarita A.; Mead, Jim I.; Alexeeva, Nadezhda V.; Angelone, Chiara; Swift, Sandra L. (2011). "Taxonomic diversity of Late Cenozoic Asian and North American ochotonids (an overview)" (PDF). Palaeontologia Electronica. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology: 1–9. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
10. Storer, J. E. (2004). "A Middle Pleistocene (late Irvingtonian) mammalian fauna from Thistle Creek, Klondike Goldfields region of Yukon Territory, Canada". Paludicola. 4 (4): 137–150.
11. Jopling, A. V.; Irving, W. N.; Beebe, B. F. (1981). "Stratigraphic, Sedimentological and Faunal Evidence for the Occurrence of Pre-Sangamonian in Northern Yukon". Arctic. 34 (1): 3–33. doi:10.14430/arctic2499. Retrieved April 13, 2014. External link in |journal= (help)
12. Turvey, Samuel T. (May 28, 2009). Holocene Extinctions. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199535095. Retrieved 2014-04-11.

Additional references of the Paleobiology Database

1. Guthrie, R. D.; Matthews, Jr., J. V. (1971). "The Cape Deceit fauna—Early pleistocene mammalian assemblage from the Alaskan arctic". Quaternary Research. 1 (4): 474–510. doi:10.1016/0033-5894(71)90060-3. [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
2. A. V. Jopling et al. (1981). "Stratigraphic, Sedimentological and Faunal Evidence for the Occurrence of Pre-Sangamonian Artefacts in Northern Yukon". Arctic. 34 (1). doi:10.14430/arctic2499. [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
3. Harington, C. R. (1978). "Quaternary vertebrate faunas of Canada and Alaska and their suggested chronological sequence". Syllogeus. 15. [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
4. Harington, C. R. (1990). "Vertebrates of the last interglaciation in Canada: A review". Geographie physique et Quaternaire. 44 (3): 375. doi:10.7202/032837ar. [J. Alroy/J. Alroy/M. Uhen]
5. Storer, J. E. (2004). "A Middle Pleistocene (late Irvingtonian) mammalian fauna from Thistle Creek, Klondike Goldfields region of Yukon Territory, Canada". Paludicola. 4 (4): 137–150. [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
6. Tedford, R. H.; Wang, X; Taylor, B. E. (2009). "Phylogenetic Systematics of the North American Fossil Caninae (Carnivora: Canidae)". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 325: 325:1–218. doi:10.1206/574.1. [J. Marcot/J. Marcot]
7. Additional contributors to utilized records of Paleobiology Database (authorizers supplying these records) include John Alroy, Jonathan Marcot.
8. "The Paleobiology Database collection: Old Crow River (Lower OCR 11) (Pleistocene of Canada)". Retrieved 2015-03-14. authorized by John Alroy
9. "The Paleobiology Database collection: Old Crow River (Lower OCR 12) (Pleistocene of Canada)". Retrieved 2015-03-14. authorized by John Alroy
10. "The Paleobiology Database collection: Old Crow River site 14N (Pleistocene to of Canada)". Retrieved 2015-03-14. authorized by Jonathan Marcot
11. "The Paleobiology Database collection: Old Crow River Locality 44 (Pleistocene of Canada)". Retrieved 2015-03-14. authorized by John Alroy
12. "The Paleobiology Database collection: Thistle Creek (Pleistocene of Canada)". Retrieved 2015-03-14. authorized by John Alroy
13. "The Paleobiology Database collection: Cape Deceit (Pleistocene of the United States)". Retrieved 2015-03-14. authorized by John Alroy