A Census of the Pleistocene Mammals of Rancho La Brea, Based on the Collections of the Los Angeles Museum

1929 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chester Stock
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Pleistocene Mammals ◽  
Rancho La Brea

The clavicles of Smilodon fatalis and Panthera atrox (mammalia: Felidae) from Rancho La Brea, Los Angeles, California

2012 ◽  
Vol 273 (9) ◽  
pp. 981-991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Hartstone-Rose ◽  
Ryan C. Long ◽  
Aisling B. Farrell ◽  
Christopher A. Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Smilodon Fatalis ◽  
Rancho La Brea ◽  
Panthera Atrox

Late Quaternary Insects of Rancho La Brea and McKittrick, California

1983 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott E. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Los Angeles County ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Dung Beetles ◽  
Kern County ◽  
Vertebrate Fauna ◽  
Modern Species ◽  
Terminal Pleistocene ◽  
Rancho La Brea

AbstractAsphalt-impregnated sediments at Rancho La Brea (Los Angeles County) and McKittrick (Kern County) in California provide a rich Quaternary insect record. Ages of various sites at Rancho La Brea range from more than 40,000 14C yr B.P. to modern. McKittrick insects studied by W. D. Pierce are not contemporaneous with the late Pleistocene vertebrate fauna, but are only about 7000 14C yr old. The major paleoecological groupings are: (1) ground dwellers, (2) aquatics. (3) scavengers, and (4) miscellaneous. Contrary to conclusions of earlier authors, most specimens represent modern species. Only two apparent terminal Pleistocene extinctions are recognized. both dung beetles (Scarabaeidae).

scholarly journals Leveraging Collective Experience to Digitize the Fossil Insects of Los Angeles

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. e26385
Author(s):  
Lindsay Walker ◽  
Erica Krimmel ◽  
Jann Vendetti ◽  
Austin Hendy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fossil Insects ◽  
Test Case ◽  
History Museum ◽  
Fossil Insect ◽  
Research And Education ◽  
La Brea Tar Pits ◽  
Rancho La Brea

The Invertebrate Paleontology Collection at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHMLA) has received support from the United States National Science Foundation (NSF DBI 1702342) to digitize the museum’s unique and historic collection of 28,000+ fossil insects. The primary goal of this project, “Fossil Insects of L.A.”, is to increase access to these collections for both research and education. Key collections to be become discoverable through iDigBio and iDigPaleo include the Georg Statz Collection (Oligocene, Rott Formation, Germany) and three faunas from Southern California: Barstow (Miocene), Rancho La Brea (Pleistocene), and McKittrick (Pleistocene). Fossil Insects of L.A. constitutes the final contribution to the Fossil Insect Collaborative Thematic Collections Network (TCN), a consortium of institutions that have been digitizing the largest fossil insect collections in the United States. As a project beginning at the tail-end of the TCN’s active funding, Fossil Insects of L.A. is actively leveraging existing TCN knowledge and resources to streamline workflows and efficiently achieve project goals. In addition to basing imaging and preservation protocols on those designed by TCN partners, Fossil Insects of L.A. is using a layered approach to provide high-quality taxonomic information without sacrificing the pace of specimen digitization. Previously unidentified specimens are initially identified only to Order, allowing them to quickly continue through the digitization process; specimens can then be re-examined by experienced project participants and external experts, who are able to reference the specimen images generated during digitization. A critical and novel aspect of this component of the project’s workflow is the concurrent digitization of the literature associated with the Statz Collection. These data will be used as a test case for the "Enhancing Paleontological and Neontological Data Discovery API" (ePANDDA) project (NSF ICER 1821039), which seeks to associate related datasets found in iDigBio, iDigPaleo, and the Paleobiology Database. Fossil Insects of L.A. will digitize and make 10,960 specimens publically available online, of which over 6,200 will include images. An additional 15,684 specimen records from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits will also be included in the data mobilization. In doing so, Fossil Insects of L.A. intends to dramatically enhance the research potential of these formerly hidden collections, as well as synthesize and demonstrate digitization best practices generated through the TCN.

Amino Acid Geochemistry of Fossil Bones from the Rancho La Brea Asphalt Deposit, California

1982 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. S. McMenamin ◽  
David J. Blunt ◽  
Keith A. Kvenvolden ◽  
Scott E. Miller ◽  
Leslie F. Marcus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Aspartic Acid ◽  
Equivalent Age ◽  
Aspartic Acid Racemization ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Fossil Bones ◽  
Minimum Age ◽  
Rancho La Brea ◽  
Age Estimates

AbstractLow aspartic acid d:l ratios and modern collagenlike concentration values indicate that amino acids in bones from the Rancho La Brea asphalt deposit, Los Angeles, California are better preserved than amino acids in bones of equivalent age that have not been preserved in asphalt. Amino acids were recovered from 10 Rancho La Brea bone samples which range in age from less than 200 to greater than 36,000 yr. The calibrated rates of aspartic acid racemization range from 2.1 to 5.0 × 10−6yr−1. Although this wide range of rate constants decreases the level of confidence for age estimates, use of the larger rate constant of 5.0 × 10−6yr−1provides minimum age estimates which fit the known stratigraphic and chronologic records of the Rancho La Brea deposits.

Size and shape stasis in late Pleistocene mammals and birds from Rancho La Brea during the Last Glacial–Interglacial cycle

2012 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald R. Prothero ◽  
Valerie J. Syverson ◽  
Kristina R. Raymond ◽  
Meena Madan ◽  
Sarah Molina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Size And Shape ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Pleistocene Mammals ◽  
Rancho La Brea ◽  
The Last Glacial

scholarly journals Microbial Diversity in Natural Asphalts of the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits

2007 ◽  
Vol 73 (14) ◽  
pp. 4579-4591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jong-Shik Kim ◽  
David E. Crowley
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Microbial Diversity ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Dna Encoding ◽  
Phylogenetic Groups ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Genes Encoding ◽  
Cell Densities ◽  
La Brea Tar Pits ◽  
Rancho La Brea

ABSTRACT Bacteria commonly inhabit subsurface oil reservoirs, but almost nothing is known yet about microorganisms that live in naturally occurring terrestrial oil seeps and natural asphalts that are comprised of highly recalcitrant petroleum hydrocarbons. Here we report the first survey of microbial diversity in ca. 28,000-year-old samples of natural asphalts from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, CA. Microbiological studies included analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequences and DNA encoding aromatic ring-hydroxylating dioxygenases from two tar pits differing in chemical composition. Our results revealed a wide range of phylogenetic groups within the Archaea and Bacteria domains, in which individual taxonomic clusters were comprised of sets of closely related species within novel genera and families. Fluorescent staining of asphalt-soil particles using phylogenetic probes for Archaea, Bacteria, and Pseudomonas showed coexistence of mixed microbial communities at high cell densities. Genes encoding dioxygenases included three novel clusters of enzymes. The discovery of life in the tar pits provides an avenue for further studies of the evolution of enzymes and catabolic pathways for bacteria that have been exposed to complex hydrocarbons for millennia. These bacteria also should have application for industrial microbiology and bioremediation.

scholarly journals Microbiology of the Oil Fly, Helaeomyia petrolei

1999 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 1477-1482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana R. Kadavy ◽  
Bradley Plantz ◽  
Christopher A. Shaw ◽  
Jill Myatt ◽  
Tyler A. Kokjohn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Heterotrophic Bacteria ◽  
Fatty Acid Analysis ◽  
Luria Bertani ◽  
Gut Contents ◽  
Solvent Tolerance ◽  
Culturable Bacteria ◽  
Acridine Orange Staining ◽  
Solvent Tolerant ◽  
Rancho La Brea

ABSTRACT Helaeomyia petrolei larvae isolated from the asphalt seeps of Rancho La Brea in Los Angeles, Calif., were examined for microbial gut contents. Standard counts on Luria-Bertani, MacConkey, and blood agar plates indicated ca. 2 × 105 heterotrophic bacteria per larva. The culturable bacteria represented 15 to 20% of the total population as determined by acridine orange staining. The gut itself contained large amounts of the oil, had no observable ceca, and maintained a slightly acidic pH of 6.3 to 6.5. Despite the ingestion of large amounts of potentially toxic asphalt by the larvae, their guts sustained the growth of 100 to 1,000 times more bacteria than did free oil. All of the bacteria isolated were nonsporeformers and gram negative. Fourteen isolates were chosen based on representative colony morphologies and were identified by using the Enterotube II and API 20E systems and fatty acid analysis. Of the 14 isolates, 9 were identified as Providencia rettgeriand 3 were likely Acinetobacter isolates. No evidence was found that the isolates grew on or derived nutrients from the asphalt itself or that they played an essential role in insect development. Regardless, any bacteria found in the oil fly larval gut are likely to exhibit pronounced solvent tolerance and may be a future source of industrially useful, solvent-tolerant enzymes.

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