The Lubbock Lake Landmark Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene paleoichthyofauna, Southern High Plains of Texas (USA)

The Lubbock Lake Landmark is located on the Southern High Plains of Texas in Yellowhouse Draw that is part of the upper Brazos River basin. The Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Lubbock Lake fish assemblages represent the first known Quaternary paleoichthyofauna for the Southern High Plains. None of the remains show evidence of cultural utilization. Their significance lies in their record and paleoenvironmental information. The fish assemblages come from two strata from different locations within the Landmark. Of the 845 elements recovered, 184 (22%) are identifiable to family or lower level. The elements overall represent seven families, seven genera, and six species. The presence of most taxa is expected but two taxa have considerable range extensions and at least one was not known to inhabit the Brazos River basin historically. These disharmonious faunal elements have a retreat pattern to the southeast and northeast today. The fish fauna reflects the overall vertebrate record at the Landmark that indicates extensive regional changes occurring in the late Quaternary climates and ecosystems that have led to modern conditions.