Ctenodactylidae

Gundis or comb rats are a group of small, stocky, African rodents in the family Ctenodactylidae. They live in rocky deserts across Northern Africa. The family comprises four living genera and five species, as well as numerous extinct genera and species. They are in the superfamily Ctenodactyloidea. Local people in northern Africa have always known about gundis, however they first came to the notice of Western naturalists in Tripoli in 1774, and were given the name gundi mice. While they are not regarded as pests, some people hunt gundis for food.

Ctenodactylidae

Oona Räisänen · 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
gundiPBDB
Sits inside
CtenodactylomorphiPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 35 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 1.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 774 ka.

Paleocene — about 0 of 262 occurrencesEocene — about 5 of 262 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 190 of 262 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 65 of 262 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 262 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 262 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences51–49 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 1 occurrence36–34 Mya — about 1 occurrence34–32 Mya — about 19 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 23 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 23 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 32 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 48 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 44 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 8 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 8 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 8 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 12 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 9 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 7 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.8–1.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.9–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence37.71 Mya1.8 Mya57 Mya0 Mya

262 occurrences of Ctenodactylidae on record, most of them in the Oligocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

262 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

35 formations

Ulantatal — 39.20°N, 105.57°EHsanda Gol — 45.27°N, 101.77°EHsanda Gol — 45.45°N, 101.27°EHsanda Gol — 45.29°N, 101.63°EHsanda Gol — 45.26°N, 101.72°EHsanda Gol — 45.45°N, 101.37°EHsanda Gol — 45.39°N, 101.24°EHsanda Gol — 45.30°N, 102.08°EHsanda Gol — 45.46°N, 101.20°EXianshuihe — 35.15°N, 105.11°EXianshuihe — 36.46°N, 104.16°ELower Manchar — 26.42°N, 67.83°ELoh — 45.52°N, 101.31°ELoh — 45.31°N, 101.63°ELoh — 45.26°N, 101.72°ELoh — 45.49°N, 101.20°ELoh — 45.35°N, 101.84°EWulanbulage — 39.83°N, 108.73°EHanjiajing — 36.06°N, 103.79°EAral — 47.37°N, 60.87°EAral — 50.30°N, 57.18°EAral — 46.78°N, 60.50°EChitarwata — 30.08°N, 70.33°EVihowa — 30.08°N, 70.33°EQingshuiying — 36.60°N, 105.69°EMaradah — 28.00°N, 20.50°EMaradah — 28.50°N, 20.00°EXiacaowan — 33.45°N, 118.20°EXiacaowan — 33.18°N, 118.22°EKeziletuogayi — 47.83°N, 86.68°ESahabi — 30.00°N, 20.00°EXiejia — 36.52°N, 101.67°EChetougou — 36.67°N, 101.52°EDam — 25.98°N, 49.39°EPaoniuquan — 40.50°N, 94.70°EYikebulage — 40.33°N, 107.00°EKizilirmak — 40.02°N, 34.02°EKeramaria — 38.31°N, 26.13°EChinji — 32.93°N, 71.66°EC1/LR — 33.58°N, 7.65°W

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The named rock units Ctenodactylidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 30 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ctenodactylidae and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Ctenodactylidae and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

714 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 146 sites for Ctenodactylidae, 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

57 references

Each of the 262 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. 45 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 Ctenodactylidae

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

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itCtenodactylomorphi through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Gervais 1853)