Birch Creek Fossil Insect Faunal List ----------------------------------------------------------------------- World Data Center for Paleoclimatology, Boulder and NOAA Paleoclimatology Program ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: PLEASE CITE CONTRIBUTORS WHEN USING THIS DATA!!!!! NAME OF DATA SET: Birch Creek Fossil Insect Faunal List LAST UPDATE: 7/2004 (Original receipt by WDC Paleo) CONTRIBUTOR: Scott Elias, University of London IGBP PAGES/WDCA CONTRIBUTION SERIES NUMBER: 2004-034 SUGGESTED DATA CITATION: Elias, S.A., et al. 2004. Alaska Fossil Insect Faunal Data. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series # 2004-034. NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA. ORIGINAL REFERENCE: Elias, S. A., 1994. Quaternary Insects and Their Environments. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C. FUNDING SOURCE: National Science Foundation grant OPP-0002362 (USA) GEOGRAPHIC REGION: Alaska, USA PERIOD OF RECORD: MIS 5e, ~140 KYrBP DESCRIPTION: Birch Creek Fossil Insect Faunal List Latitude: 65º50'N, Longitude: 144º30'W, Bathymetry/elevation: 220 m asl Variable names: Insect taxon Variable unit: Minimum number of individuals (MNI) per assemblage Data format: Faunal list table, showing MNI per taxon per sample MNI was calculated on the basis of the maximum number of any single body part (e.g., head capsule, pronotum, left or right elytron) of a given taxon Nine samples were taken from the exposure at Birch Creek. Each sample of organic detritus was less than or equal to 5 cm in thickness. The samples were wet-screened over a 300-µm sieve to isolate organic residues. Extraction of insect fossils from organic detritus followed standard kerosene flotation methods (Elias, 1994). Specimens were sorted in 95% ethanol under low-power stereobinocular microscope. Most insect fossil specimens were stored in vials of 95% ethanol. Some were mounted on micropaleontological cards with gum tragacanth, a water soluble glue. Identification of specimens was made by comparison with identified fossil and modern material in Elias’s Alaskan collection, and by comparison with modern specimens in the Canadian National Collection, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa. Chronostratigraphic information: The samples were taken from forest beds above Old Crow tephra, which has been dated by luminescence methods at 140,000 + 20 yr BP. The forest beds therefore represent MIS 5e. DATA: Birch Creek Insect Faunal List Taxon Samples (in stratigraphic order) 68 39 38 41 58 59 100 60 61 Coleoptera Carabidae Dyschirius frigidus 1 Pterostichus brevicornis Kby. 1 Pterostichus (Cryobius) sp. 1 1 Genus et sp. indet. 1 Dytiscidae Agabus arcticus 1 Hydroporus sp. 4 2 Hydrophilidae Hydrobius fuscipes L. 1 3 Cercyon marinus Thoms. 5 1 Enochrus or Cymbiodyta sp. 1 1 5 Limnebiidae Ochthebius sp. 1 Hydraena angulicollis Notm. 1 8 1 Staphylinidae Eucnecosum brachypterum 1 1 Olophrum consimile (Gyll.) 3 1 Olophrum sp. 1 1 2 2 Bledius sp. 1 Stenus sp. 1 4 1 Quedius (Microsaurus) sp. 3 4 Heterothops fusculus LeC. 1 1 Lathrobium sp. 1 1 Tachinus sp. 1 Tachyporus sp. 1 Aleocharinae gen. et sp. indet. 1 2 Pselaphidae Genus indet. 2 1 Helodidae Cyphon sp. 1 3 5 3 Byrrhidae Morychus sp. 1 Curculionidae Apion alaskanum Fall 1 1 Lepidophorus lineaticollis Kby. 1 1 Genus et sp. indet. 1 2 1 Scolytidae Scolytus piceae (Sw.) 1 1 Phloeotribus lecontei Schedl. 1 1 Diptera Family, genus & sp. indet. 6 Hymenoptera Formicidae Camponotus herculeanus L. 1 Formica sp. 1 Myrmica alaskensis Whlr. 1 1 1 Arachnida Araneida Genus et sp. indet 2