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DATA ACQUISITION PROCESS:
We
entered relevant information for more than 3700 fossil localities
(see the mapping interface for the current count). The data extraction
and entry involved the following:
- The
process began with extraction of primary bibliographic references,
specimen information, and locality information for the relevant
time periods from Appendix I (Tertiary mammal localities) of
Janis et al. (1998). Additional localities were discovered by
following the paper trail from one paper’s bibliography to another,
and by using the UC Berkeley library system to keep abreast of
literature that appeared from 1998 through the present. To be
included, taxa had to be represented by a voucher specimen, localities
had to be described well enough to be geographically placed at
least in a county, and a biochronologic age assignment had to
be derivable from the information provided in the publication.
We attempted to include all peer-reviewed publications, and also
included information from a few Ph. D. Dissertations or Masters
Theses that we deemed particularly critical. All information
was keyed using individual localities. However, some publications
only included faunal lists that aggregated taxa from numerous
localities without attributing any of those taxa to specific
localities. These faunas were entered as single locality entries
with a note in the comment field discussing their composite nature.
In other publications, some of the taxa in a faunal list were
referred to specific localities while the remaining taxa were
not attributed to a locality. In these instances, those localities
with known taxa were entered as single locality entries. The
remaining unattributed taxa were lumped together in a single
locality entry (entitled “General ...“), even though those taxa
may have come from one of the identified localities.
- The
information we found by searching the primary literature was
compared with the locality and taxon lists compiled by J. Alroy
in the Paleobiology
Database to ensure all principal localities and taxa were
included (early in the project this comparison was with the North
American Mammalian Paleofaunal Database, which was subsequently
merged into the Paleobiology Database).
- We
utilized information from unpublished specimens for key areas
for which little published information existed (Hepburn’s Mesa,
Montana; Railroad Canyon, Idaho; the state of Nevada). In most
cases these specimens were from areas in which Barnosky had worked
extensively and for which better identifications than had been
published were available (Hepburn’s Mesa, Railroad Canyon) or
for which primary field notes and examination of key specimens
was possible (Nevada). The unpublished specimens included in
the database reside in the University of California Museum of
Paleontology (for Nevada and the Railroad Canyon area), the American
Museum of Natural History and University of Montana (for Railroad
Canyon), and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (for Railroad
Canyon and the Hepburn’s Mesa Formation). Unpublished specimen
counts were also included for a few localities by surveying museum
online databases. These included the online resources of the
American Museum of Natural History (for the Sheep Creek, Olcott,
and Snake Creek Formations, Nenzel Quarry and Timm Ranch Site,
Nebraska; Wikieup, Arizona; and the San Juan and Rak Camel quarries,
New Mexico) and the University of California Museum of Paleontology
(Johnson Canyon and Little Dike Locality, Oregon; Tecuya Canyon,
California).
- We
coded and entered the information extracted from the literature
or collections in a standard way as specified in the MIOMAP data
tables.
All
items in the database contain entries in the Locality Table, Faunal
Table, Relative Age Table, Reference Table, and Electronic Bibliography.
It was not always possible to fill all of the data fields in these
or the other tables, but as much information as was available from
the published literature was utilized. Blank fields in the data
tables mean that the information is not available from the published
literature.
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