Castoridae

Castoridae is a family of rodents that contains the two living species of beavers and their fossil relatives. A formerly diverse group, only a single genus is extant today, Castor. Two other genera of "giant beavers", Castoroides and Trogontherium, became extinct in the Late Pleistocene.

Castoridae

United States Fish and Wildlife Service · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
beaverPBDB
Sits inside
CastorimorphiPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 1130 occurrencesPaleocene — about 0 of 1130 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 6 of 1130 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 186 of 1130 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 465 of 1130 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 118 of 1130 occurrencesPleistocene — about 336 of 1130 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 2 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 5 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 15 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 22 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 51 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 62 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 45 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 33 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 38 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 59 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 95 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 81 occurrences11–9.0 Mya — about 67 occurrences9.0–6.7 Mya — about 52 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 60 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 109 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 333 occurrences33.9 Mya11.7 ka67 Mya0 Mya

1,130 occurrences of Castoridae on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1,130 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

161 formations

Sharps — 43.30°N, 102.50°WSharps — 43.50°N, 101.90°WValentine — 42.70°N, 100.00°WValentine — 42.49°N, 98.11°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 42.80°N, 99.70°WValentine — 42.81°N, 100.05°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 40.10°N, 98.50°WValentine — 42.90°N, 98.80°WValentine — 42.60°N, 98.00°WValentine — 42.72°N, 100.85°WAsh Hollow — 42.70°N, 100.00°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WAsh Hollow — 42.39°N, 98.10°WAsh Hollow — 40.50°N, 100.50°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 101.89°WAsh Hollow — 43.40°N, 100.60°WAsh Hollow — 41.20°N, 101.80°WAsh Hollow — 41.10°N, 103.00°WAsh Hollow — 42.63°N, 100.05°WAsh Hollow — 43.20°N, 100.70°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WBrule — 40.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBrule — 46.90°N, 102.80°WBrule — 43.20°N, 103.20°WBrule — 41.80°N, 103.80°WBrule — 42.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.50°N, 101.90°WBrule — 43.90°N, 102.40°WBrule — 41.50°N, 103.80°WBrule — 41.70°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.76°N, 101.93°WAral — 47.37°N, 60.87°EAral — 46.80°N, 60.58°EAral — 50.30°N, 57.18°EAral — 46.78°N, 60.50°EAral — 50.20°N, 66.80°EJohn Day — 44.67°N, 119.63°WJohn Day — 44.67°N, 119.65°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 121.30°WJohn Day — 45.08°N, 119.87°WJohn Day — 44.55°N, 119.63°WJohn Day — 44.79°N, 119.58°WJohn Day — 44.59°N, 119.63°WJohn Day — 44.83°N, 119.74°WHarrison — 43.30°N, 102.50°WHarrison — 42.40°N, 103.80°WHarrison — 42.80°N, 100.80°WHarrison — 42.53°N, 103.74°WAlkali Canyon — 45.72°N, 120.20°WAlkali Canyon — 45.84°N, 119.29°WAlkali Canyon — 45.69°N, 120.15°WGering — 41.70°N, 103.10°WGering — 43.00°N, 104.50°WRunningwater — 42.75°N, 102.00°WRunningwater — 42.70°N, 102.50°WRunningwater — 42.80°N, 103.10°WRunningwater — 42.20°N, 103.10°WRunningwater — 42.37°N, 103.32°WMonroe Creek — 43.30°N, 102.50°WMonroe Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WGlenns Ferry — 43.60°N, 116.80°WGlenns Ferry — 42.80°N, 114.90°WGlenns Ferry — 43.00°N, 118.00°WRenova — 46.40°N, 112.80°WRenova — 46.65°N, 113.05°WRenova — 45.20°N, 112.00°WCromer Forest Bed — 52.46°N, 1.73°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.88°N, 1.44°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.42°N, 1.72°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.93°N, 1.30°EOlcott — 42.40°N, 103.80°WOlcott — 42.19°N, 103.73°WFleming — 31.00°N, 93.67°WFleming — 31.10°N, 93.10°WFleming — 30.70°N, 94.70°WFleming — 31.00°N, 93.40°WFleming — 30.50°N, 95.00°WWood Mountain — 49.20°N, 106.20°WWood Mountain — 49.17°N, 105.99°WAlfambra — 40.37°N, 2.59°WAlfambra — 40.35°N, 2.60°WSan Joaquin — 35.90°N, 120.00°WRexroad — 37.10°N, 100.90°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WRexroad — 37.13°N, 100.48°WSnake Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WJuntura — 43.60°N, 117.50°WEsmeralda — 38.25°N, 117.90°WEsmeralda — 37.96°N, 118.03°WCypress Hills — 49.57°N, 109.88°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 108.80°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 109.00°WCypress Hills — 49.80°N, 109.00°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Castoridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 137 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 554 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Castoridae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Castoridae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,863 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 897 sites for Castoridae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

436 references

Each of the 1,130 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 424 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Castoridae

Credit
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCastorimorphi through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1821