Paleoecological and biogeographical implications of late Pleistocene noble marten ( Martes americana nobilis) in eastern Washington State, USA

Abstract

A mandible identified as noble marten ( Martes americana nobilis) recovered from sediments dating to 11,800 cal yr BP and a humerus identified as M. a. cf. nobilis recovered from sediments dating from 13,100 to 12,500 cal yr BP at the Marmes Rockshelter archaeological site in southeastern Washington represent the first record of this taxon in the state. Mammalian taxa associated with the Marmes Rockshelter noble marten represent a diversity of open mesic habitats corroborating earlier analyses of other records of the noble marten in the western United States and exemplify how paleozoologists determine the ecology and environmental predilections of extinct taxa. The recovery site represents the topographically lowest record of this species in western North America and the farthest north record in the United States. Future research should examine known late-Quaternary Martes spp. remains from British Columbia and Alberta to fill in the 2200-km geographic gap in the known distribution of this taxon between a record in the northern Yukon and those in the western United States, and to refine our knowledge of noble marten paleoecology.