Late Holocene sonoran desert arthropod remains from a packrat midden, catavina, Baja California Norte, Mexico

Arthropods are reported for the first time from a late Holocene-aged (1770 +/- 60 radiocarbon years B.P.) packrat (Neotoma) midden located in a granit e boulder field in the Catavina region of the Central Desert, Baja Californ ia, Mexico. More than 23 arthropod taxa have been identified from 315 fragm ents found in a subsample of the midden. Ten of these taxa have not previou sly been reported from Neotoma midden assemblages. Coleoptera (beetles) and Hymenoptera, Formicidae (ants) are the dominant forms recovered, possibly reflecting a taphonomic bias. We compared the taxa found in the midden asse mblage with that found at the site today and found little difference, howev er a study of the midden plants has revealed that the modern vegetation and climate are drier than similar to 1770 years ago.