. The Australian zoologist. Zoology; Zoology; Zoology. R. T. WELLS, K. MORIARTY and D. L. G. WILLIAMS Fig 7 Fig. 12. The distribution of larger bones from three adjacent levels (5, 6 and 7) in excavation C. formance. We would then propose that for the large animals the cave acted as a pitfall trap. The pitfall hypothesis may be tested by an examination of the age classes of the fauna. Van Valen (1963, 1964) and Voorhies (1969) have used age frequency distributions to distinguish catastrophic from attritional mortality. Using the method of Kirkpatrick (1965) we determined th
. The Australian zoologist. Zoology; Zoology; Zoology. R. T. WELLS, K. MORIARTY and D. L. G. WILLIAMS Fig 7 Fig. 12. The distribution of larger bones from three adjacent levels (5, 6 and 7) in excavation C. formance. We would then propose that for the large animals the cave acted as a pitfall trap. The pitfall hypothesis may be tested by an examination of the age classes of the fauna. Van Valen (1963, 1964) and Voorhies (1969) have used age frequency distributions to distinguish catastrophic from attritional mortality. Using the method of Kirkpatrick (1965) we determined the age/frequency distribution for Macropus rufogriseus specimens, a common element in the fauna. The curve (Fig. 14) is indicative of a catastrophic accumulation and is consistent with the hypothesis of a pitfall, trapping animals at random. Similar distributions based on tooth eruption only are shown for other common extant and extinct species in the fauna in Fig. 15. Our conclusions are that (1) the large animals fell into the cave via a pitfall, (2) the skeletons of those that perished on the cone were buried by incoming sediment, redistributed and disarticulated either by mass movement or gentie rafting when water washed down the cone or a combination of both, (3) skeletons of animals that perished on the distal parts of the fan were subject to even less water movement and hence partial articulation was maintained, and (4) that in 322 Aust. Zool. 21(4). 1984. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales; Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. Proceedings. [Sydney, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales]
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1914
