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Late Pleistocene groundwater discharge deposits (paleowetlands) in the upper Las Vegas Wash north of Las Vegas, Nevada, have yielded an abundant and diverse vertebrate fossil assemblage, the Tule Springs local fauna (TSLF). The TSLF is the largest open-site vertebrate fossil assemblage dating to the Rancholabrean North American Land Mammal Age in the southern Great Basin and Mojave Desert. Over 600 discrete body fossil localities have been recorded from the wash, including an area that now encompasses Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument (TUSK). Paleowetland sediments exposed in TUSK named the Las Vegas Formation span the last 250 ka, with fossiliferous sediments spanning ∼100–13 ka. The recovered fauna is dominated by remains of  Camelops and  Mammuthus , and also includes relatively common remains of extinct  Equus and  Bison as well as abundant vertebrate microfaunal fossils. Large carnivorans are rare, with only  Puma concolor  and  Panthera atrox  documented previously. Postcranial remains assigned to the species  Canis dirus  (dire wolf) and  Smilodon fatalis  (sabre-toothed cat) represent the first confirmed records of these species from the TSLF, as well as the first documentation of  Canis dirus  in Nevada and the only known occurrence of  Smilodon in southern Nevada. The size of the recovered canid fossil precludes assignment to other Pleistocene species of  Canis . The morphology of the felid elements differentiates them from other large predators such as  Panthera ,  Homotherium , and  Xenosmilus , and the size of the fossils prevents assignment to other species of  Smilodon . The confirmed presence of  S. fatalis  in the TSLF is of particular interest, indicating that this species inhabited open habitats. In turn, this suggests that the presumed preference of  S. fatalis  for closed-habitat environments hunting requires further elucidation.

First records ofCanis dirusandSmilodon fatalisfrom the late Pleistocene Tule Springs local fauna, upper Las Vegas Wash, Nevada