Delphinus

The common dolphin is the most abundant cetacean in the world, with an estimated global population of about six million. It is currently the only member of the genus Delphinus, the type genus of the subfamily Delphininae. This places it as a close relative of the bottlenose dolphin, humpback dolphin, striped dolphin, spinner dolphin, Clymene dolphin, spotted dolphin, Fraser's dolphin, the tucuxi, and the Guiana dolphin.

Delphinus

NOAA NMFS · 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
common dolphinPBDB
Sits inside
DelphininaePBDB
Diet
piscivore, carnivorePBDB, for Delphinidae
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marine,freshwaterPBDB, for Odontoceti

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 58 occurrencesMiocene — about 9 of 58 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 18 of 58 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 8 of 58 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–11 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 6 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 28 occurrences11.63 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

58 occurrences of Delphinus 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

58 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

10 formations

Tangahoe — 39.58°S, 174.28°EYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WNorwich Crag — 52.31°N, 1.40°ENorwich Crag — 52.47°N, 1.59°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.92°N, 1.34°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.88°N, 1.44°EPisco — 15.56°S, 74.69°WTatsunokuchi — 38.33°N, 140.81°EWhaler's Bluff — 38.36°S, 141.60°EKattendijk — 51.17°N, 4.85°EGroote Heide — 52.10°N, 6.65°EKuyal'nikian — 46.46°N, 30.73°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Delphinus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 43 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

904 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 53 sites for Delphinus, 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

41 references

Each of the 58 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. 29 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 content3

Picture of Delphinus

Credit
NOAA NMFS
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Delphinus delphis · MZRC:10088

3D model

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

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 itDelphininae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758