Late Pleistocene Amphibians and Reptiles of the Clear Creek and Ben Franklin Local Faunas of Texas

The Clear Creek local fauna of Denton County, Texas (Pleistocene: Sangamon) has yielded bones representing at least 23 species of amphibians and reptiles. All of these live in the area today, with the exception of Arizona elegans, which occurs about 45 miles to the west, and Geochelone, which is extinct. The fossils represent two distinct ecological situations: a pond, and its sluggish, marshy, feeder-creek or slough; and an open, sandy, xerophytic, terrestrial situation. The general climate of the area may have been somewhat more arid than at present. The number of extinct amphibians and reptiles (four percent of the fauna) is much less than in homoiotherms from this and other Pleistocene localities. The Ben Franklin local fauna of Delta County, Texas (Pleistocene: Wisconsin) has yielded fossils representing only four forms, all of which live in the area today