Ti’s al Ghadah
Basic information
Sample name: Ti’s al Ghadah

Sample aka: TAG-1

Reference: C. M. Stimpson, A. Lister, A. Parton, L. Clark-Balzan, P. S. Breeze, N. A. Drake, H. S. Groucutt, R. Jennings, E. M. L. Scerri, T. S. White, M. Zahir, M. Duval, R. Grün, A. Al-Omari, K. S. M. Al Murayyi, I. S. Zalmout, Y. Mufarreh, Memesh, and Petraglia. 2016. Middle Pleistocene vertebrate fossils from the Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia: Implications for biogeography and palaeoecology. Quaternary Science Reviews 143:13-36 [ER 3842]
Geography
Country: Saudi Arabia


Coordinate: 27.45° N, 39.42° E
Coordinate basis: estimated from map

Time interval: Middle Pleistocene

Max Ma: 0.554

Min Ma: 0.473

Age basis: ESR

Geography comments: "approximately 95 km southeast of the city of Tayma" (coordinate estimated from the map in Fig. 1)
from the local Unit 5
there are combined US-ESR dates of 473 +50/-33 and 554 +79/-76 ka
there are also standard U-series dates indicating a younger age, but they are apparently rejected by the authors

Environment
Lithology: sandstone

Taphonomic context: fluvial deposit

Habitat comments: "weakly cross-bedded, very poorly sorted, coarse, reddish sands" representing "continual localised slopewash events" and not lacustrine or channel environments

Methods
Life forms: carnivores,ungulates,birds,lizards

Sampling methods: quarry

Sample size: 279 specimens

Years: 2013, 2014

Sampling comments: most specimens are from excavated trenches
TAG/13 and TAG/14 specimen numbers appear to represent 2013 and 2014 collections because illustrated specimens from trench 1 in Fig. 2 both have the same prefix

Metadata
Sample number: 4198

Contributor: John Alroy

Enterer: John Alroy

Created: 2023-04-07 09:21:42

Modified: 2023-04-06 23:22:35

Abundance distribution
18 species
8 singletons
total count 279
geometric series index: 45.6
Fisher's α: 4.298
geometric series k: 0.7246
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.2617
Shannon's H: 0.7861
Good's u: 0.9714
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
Register
Squamata indet.4
Varanidae or Uromastyx sp.
Struthio sp.1
Tachybaptus sp.1
Neophron percnopterus32.1 kg carnivore
Milvus cf. migrans129.5 g invertivore-carnivore
Pterocles orientalis1428 g
Anas sp.1
Motacilla cf. alba21.9 g insectivore
one specimen is specifically indeterminate
Panthera gombaszoegensis4
"Panthera cf. gombaszogensis": two specimens are specifically indeterminate
Crocuta cf. crocuta766 kg carnivore
coprolites
Canis sp.3
possibly a jackal
Canis anthus1
Vulpes sp.3
see Stimpson et al. 2015
Mustelidae indet.1
Equus hemionus1 grazer
Equus sp.2
may or may not be E. hemionus
Palaeoloxodon cf. recki4
two specimens are specifically indeterminate
Oryx sp.239