Chalicotheriidae

Chalicotheriidae is an extinct family of herbivorous, perissodactyl mammals. Unlike living odd-toed ungulates, chalicotheres bore large claws on their hands rather than hooves, thought to have been used for grasping vegetation, with their dentition being adapted for browsing. The family is known from the Oligocene to the Pleistocene, reached its greatest diversity in the Miocene, and is known from Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. Asia appears to have been the main centre of diversification for the group.

Chalicotheriidae

Postdlf · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
chalicotherePBDB
Sits inside
ChalicotherioideaPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB, for Chalicotherioidea
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Chalicotherioidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 45 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 2.58 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Paleocene — about 0 of 228 occurrencesEocene — about 27 of 228 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 20 of 228 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 155 of 228 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 11 of 228 occurrencesPleistocene — about 15 of 228 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 2 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 4 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 4 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 4 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 4 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 4 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 3 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 3 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 4 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 5 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 6 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 11 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 13 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 26 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 24 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 19 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 12 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 12 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 17 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 18 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 8 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 15 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 7 occurrences48.07 Mya2.58 Mya57 Mya0 Mya

228 occurrences of Chalicotheriidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

228 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

78 formations

Sheep Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WXianshuihe — 36.06°N, 103.79°EXianshuihe — 43.65°N, 112.66°EXianshuihe — 36.16°N, 103.59°EMarsland — 42.42°N, 103.87°WMarsland — 42.40°N, 103.80°WMarsland — 42.00°N, 104.20°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 120.20°WJohn Day — 44.50°N, 119.30°WJohn Day — 44.70°N, 119.63°WShungura — 5.10°N, 36.02°EShungura — 5.05°N, 36.02°EShungura — 5.09°N, 36.06°EVogel River Series — 3.20°S, 35.21°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°EHedi — 34.80°N, 111.91°EHedi — 35.12°N, 111.85°EUinta — 40.20°N, 109.90°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 108.20°WErgilin Dzo — 43.40°N, 109.10°EErgilin Dzo — 43.73°N, 111.25°EErgilin Dzo — 43.37°N, 108.66°EOlcott — 42.19°N, 103.73°WOlcott — 42.40°N, 103.80°WCaliente — 35.10°N, 120.00°WCaliente — 34.30°N, 119.00°WLukeino — 0.50°N, 35.67°EChitarwata — 30.08°N, 70.33°EMytilinii — 37.75°N, 26.89°EHarrison — 42.40°N, 103.80°WValentine — 42.70°N, 100.00°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WTroublesome — 40.20°N, 106.10°WHiwegi — 0.41°S, 34.15°EHiwegi — 0.40°S, 34.17°EWulanbulage — 39.83°N, 108.73°EHuangzhuang — 35.60°N, 117.03°EVihowa — 30.08°N, 70.33°EUlan Gocho — 42.63°N, 111.35°EPikermi — 38.00°N, 23.96°E

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The named rock units Chalicotheriidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 54 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 85 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Chalicotheriidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Chalicotheriidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

2,638 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 212 sites for Chalicotheriidae, and this reads all 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

140 references

Each of the 228 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. 128 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 content1

Picture of Chalicotheriidae

Credit
Postdlf
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Chalicotheriidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itChalicotherioidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gill 1872