Description

Pocket Mouse
Late Pleistocene (Rancholabrean)
Rancho La Brea Formation
Maricopa Tar Pits
Kern County, California, USA
Two pocket mouse legs and pelvis with insect parts on 79mm matrix from the Tar Pits

Mammal. Rodent. heteromyidae.

Perignathus longimembris is the scientific name of the modern pocket mouse. Because the tar pits are quite young, geologically speaking, fossils of animals living today are found along with those of the famous extinct forms.

Here is an unusual association piece from the fossil record with both vertebrate and invertebrate remains.