Delphinidae

Oceanic dolphins or Delphinidae are a widely distributed family of dolphins that live in the sea. Close to forty extant species are recognised. They include several big species whose common names contain "whale" rather than "dolphin", such as the Globicephalinae. Delphinidae is a family within the superfamily Delphinoidea, which also includes the porpoises (Phocoenidae) and the Monodontidae. River dolphins are a grouping of at least three cetacean superfamilies which form a sister group to Delphinoidea.

Delphinidae

PresN · 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
dolphinPBDB
Sits inside
DelphinoideaPBDB
Diet
piscivore, carnivorePBDB
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marine,freshwaterPBDB, for Odontoceti

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 610 occurrencesMiocene — about 87 of 610 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 161 of 610 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 86 of 610 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 1 occurrence22–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 5 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 5 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 5 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 6 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 9 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 5 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 4 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 5 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 7 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 7 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 34 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 42 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 51 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 41 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 22 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 18 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 316 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

610 occurrences of Delphinidae on record. 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

610 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

83 formations

Yorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WTangahoe — 39.58°S, 174.28°ECalvert — 38.18°N, 76.97°WCalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 38.53°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 38.21°N, 76.94°WCalvert — 38.38°N, 76.99°WCromer Forest Bed — 52.92°N, 1.34°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.88°N, 1.44°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.45°N, 1.73°ESabbie d'Asti — 45.03°N, 11.85°ESabbie d'Asti — 45.00°N, 8.03°ESabbie d'Asti — 45.00°N, 8.09°ESabbie d'Asti — 44.95°N, 8.11°EPurisima — 37.29°N, 122.41°WPurisima — 36.97°N, 121.92°WPisco — 15.56°S, 74.69°WRed Crag — 51.96°N, 1.35°ERed Crag — 52.09°N, 1.31°ESanuki — 41.11°N, 141.26°ESanuki — 35.35°N, 140.07°ESanuki — 35.38°N, 139.52°EWhaler's Bluff — 38.36°S, 141.60°EWestkapelle Ground — 51.62°N, 3.88°EWestkapelle Ground — 52.50°N, 2.67°EWestkapelle Ground — 52.17°N, 2.17°EPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.80°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.80°N, 118.28°WGreta Siltstone — 42.97°S, 173.09°EIimuro — 35.52°N, 139.72°EIimuro — 35.62°N, 139.57°EOmma — 36.49°N, 136.72°ETamiami — 27.34°N, 82.51°WTamiami — 26.72°N, 81.67°WSorsdal — 68.64°S, 78.13°ESan Diego — 32.74°N, 117.17°WSan Diego — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSalsomaggiore — 44.73°N, 10.03°ESan Mateo — 33.20°N, 117.37°WLoxton — 34.15°S, 139.91°EPińczów Limestone — 50.52°N, 20.53°EPińczów Limestone — 50.90°N, 20.90°ESanta Margarita — 37.00°N, 122.00°WSetana — 42.68°N, 140.31°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Delphinidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 59 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 448 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

1,765 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 489 sites for Delphinidae, 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

242 references

Each of the 610 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. 230 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 Delphinidae

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

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itDelphinoidea through timeThe world it lived on

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