Giant pika | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Lagomorpha |
Family: | Ochotonidae |
Genus: | Ochotona |
Species: | †O. whartoni
|
Binomial name | |
†Ochotona whartoni | |
Fossil distribution of Ochotona whartoni and Ochotona cf. whartoni. Cape Deceit and Old Crow River are red, other sites black. |
The giant pika [n 1] or Wharton's pika [n 2] (Ochotona whartoni) is an extinct mammal species in the family Ochotonidae. [1] It lived during the Pleistocene and early Holocene in northern parts of North America ( Alaska, US and Canada). [2] [n 3] [4] Very similar forms have also been found also in Siberia. [8] [9]
The giant pika has been 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] A close relative O. whartoni (O. cf. whartoni) is also known from Eastern Siberia and Kolyma. [8] [9]
The ancestors of these pikas migrated from Eurasia to North America during the Early Pleistocene via the Bering Land Bridge, along with another group of small pikas close to the " O. pusilla group". This migration was separate from that of O. spanglei, [8] which entered North America approximately three million years earlier at the Miocene- Pliocene boundary. [9]
The giant pika is much larger than other North American pikas, but is of a 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 the same species as one of them. [7] Unlike the American pika (O. princeps), which inhabits scree slopes, the giant pika's habitat was largely tundra and steppe, similar to Eurasian pikas. [7]
The giant pika has been found in North America from the Irvingtonian (1.8–0.3 Ma, Lower– Middle Pleistocene) [1] [6] [11] throughout Middle Pleistocene [6] [10] to Late Pleistocene (0.1–0.0Ma) [3] [5] locations. [2]
The last occurrence of the giant pika is known from early the Holocene of 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 it survived in the rocky areas along the Niagara Escarpment as a relict population. [4] [6]
3rd INTERNATIONAL MAMMOTH CONFERENCE, 2003: PROGRAM AND ABSTRACTS, Edited by John E. Storer
authorized by Jonathan Marcot
Giant pika | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Lagomorpha |
Family: | Ochotonidae |
Genus: | Ochotona |
Species: | †O. whartoni
|
Binomial name | |
†Ochotona whartoni | |
Fossil distribution of Ochotona whartoni and Ochotona cf. whartoni. Cape Deceit and Old Crow River are red, other sites black. |
The giant pika [n 1] or Wharton's pika [n 2] (Ochotona whartoni) is an extinct mammal species in the family Ochotonidae. [1] It lived during the Pleistocene and early Holocene in northern parts of North America ( Alaska, US and Canada). [2] [n 3] [4] Very similar forms have also been found also in Siberia. [8] [9]
The giant pika has been 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] A close relative O. whartoni (O. cf. whartoni) is also known from Eastern Siberia and Kolyma. [8] [9]
The ancestors of these pikas migrated from Eurasia to North America during the Early Pleistocene via the Bering Land Bridge, along with another group of small pikas close to the " O. pusilla group". This migration was separate from that of O. spanglei, [8] which entered North America approximately three million years earlier at the Miocene- Pliocene boundary. [9]
The giant pika is much larger than other North American pikas, but is of a 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 the same species as one of them. [7] Unlike the American pika (O. princeps), which inhabits scree slopes, the giant pika's habitat was largely tundra and steppe, similar to Eurasian pikas. [7]
The giant pika has been found in North America from the Irvingtonian (1.8–0.3 Ma, Lower– Middle Pleistocene) [1] [6] [11] throughout Middle Pleistocene [6] [10] to Late Pleistocene (0.1–0.0Ma) [3] [5] locations. [2]
The last occurrence of the giant pika is known from early the Holocene of 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 it survived in the rocky areas along the Niagara Escarpment as a relict population. [4] [6]
3rd INTERNATIONAL MAMMOTH CONFERENCE, 2003: PROGRAM AND ABSTRACTS, Edited by John E. Storer
authorized by Jonathan Marcot