Late Pleistocene Mammals from a Cave in Tamaulipas, Mexico

Cueve de Abra is in the tropical part of southern Tamaulipas. The cave includes an enormous sinkhole that contains vast numbers of remains of Recent and Pleistocene vertebrates that have not been studied. Remnants of a travertine ledge from a horizontal part of the cave yielded abundant fossils of vertebrates, presumably of late Pleistocene age. Approximately 2,000 jaws represent 25 species of mammals. Most of these live in the vicinity of the cave today but Onychonys leucogaster and Perognathus hispidus do not range so far south, Balantiopteryx io has not been taken so far north, and four other species may not now range so far east. A rice rat, Oryzomys fulvescens, common near the cave today, is not present in the fossil fauna. A new species of pocket mouse, Perognathus huastecensis, is described.