Featured in this lot are Pleistocene Epoch Tar Pit Water Beetles, California. The Pleistocene Epoch, commonly referred to as the Ice Age or the Great Ice Age, was a geologic period that began about 2.6 million years ago and ended about 11,000 years ago. The La Brea Tar Pits located in Hancock Park in urban Los Angeles, California are a world-famous active paleontological research site for Pleistocene fossils. The pits are filled with asphalt that trapped Ice Age plants and animals, providing a record of the Western North American megafauna. The pits contain one of the richest, best preserved, and best studied assemblages of Pleistocene vertebrates, including at least 59 species of mammal and over 135 species of bird. The abundant deposits of the La Brea tar pits are the result of animals, either looking for water, or for tar-entrapped prey, to be caught in the sticky ooze and preserved perfectly for all eternity in this perfect fossil-making environment. The soft tar hardened slowly, long after its victims had died of suffocation or starvation. As the Pleistocene sun beat down on the surface of the tar sump, it glistened and reflected like water - no wonder these water beetles were tempted. The water beetles are contained in a lidded clear glass jar. Measures 3.75" diameter x 3"H, weight is 12oz.