Desmostylidae

Desmostylidae is an extinct family of herbivorous marine mammals belonging to the order of Desmostylia. They lived in the coastal waters of the northern Pacific Ocean from the Early Oligocene (Rupelian) through the Late Miocene (Tortonian), existing for approximately 26.7 million years.

Desmostylidae

Uncredited · 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
Sits inside
DesmostyloideaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Desmostylia
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Desmostylia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Desmostylia
Environment
coastalPBDB, for Desmostylia

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 11.63 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 129 occurrencesOligocene — about 14 of 129 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 114 of 129 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 129 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 129 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 1 occurrence27–26 Mya — about 3 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 3 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 3 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 3 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 4 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 4 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 5 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 5 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 5 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 5 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 17 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 18 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 15 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 13 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 5 occurrences11–9.6 Mya — about 5 occurrences9.6–8.5 Mya — about 5 occurrences8.5–7.4 Mya — about 5 occurrences7.4–6.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.3–5.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.2–4.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.1–3.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.0–2.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences27.3 Mya11.63 Mya34.5 Mya2 Mya

129 occurrences of Desmostylidae 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

129 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

57 formations

Temblor — 35.95°N, 120.22°WTemblor — 35.30°N, 118.50°WTemblor — 35.63°N, 119.69°WTemblor — 35.36°N, 120.22°WTemblor — 35.37°N, 119.02°WTemblor — 36.50°N, 120.32°WTemblor — 36.33°N, 120.36°WTemblor — 33.75°N, 117.87°WTemblor — 36.56°N, 120.56°WTemblor — 36.19°N, 120.40°WTemblor — 36.06°N, 120.61°WTemblor — 35.91°N, 120.14°WTemblor — 35.72°N, 119.98°WTemblor — 36.00°N, 120.51°WTemblor — 36.29°N, 120.33°WBriones — 37.56°N, 121.92°WBriones — 37.45°N, 121.83°WBriones — 37.94°N, 122.26°WBriones — 38.00°N, 122.06°WBriones — 37.68°N, 121.90°WBriones — 37.32°N, 121.88°WBriones — 39.70°N, 123.27°WBriones — 37.90°N, 122.11°WBriones — 37.90°N, 122.03°WBriones — 37.38°N, 121.78°WBriones — 37.57°N, 121.81°WMonterey — 33.60°N, 117.70°WMonterey — 33.78°N, 118.39°WMonterey — 35.27°N, 120.67°WMonterey — 34.62°N, 120.13°WMonterey — 35.28°N, 120.53°WMonterey — 36.62°N, 121.90°WFujina — 35.45°N, 133.06°EFujina — 35.43°N, 133.04°EFujina — 35.35°N, 132.75°EAstoria — 44.70°N, 124.06°WAstoria — 44.77°N, 124.08°WKadonosawa — 39.35°N, 140.77°EKadonosawa — 40.31°N, 141.33°ESanta Margarita — 37.05°N, 122.04°WRosarito Beach — 32.12°N, 116.80°WVaqueros — 34.89°N, 119.75°WVaqueros — 36.17°N, 120.67°WVaqueros — 35.09°N, 119.81°WSooke — 48.38°N, 123.87°WSooke — 48.50°N, 124.32°WEl Cien — 23.44°N, 109.54°WEl Cien — 25.35°N, 110.98°WEl Cien — 25.19°N, 110.91°WYaquina — 44.50°N, 124.07°WIwando — 36.02°N, 139.37°EBranch Canyon — 34.89°N, 119.62°WBranch Canyon — 34.90°N, 119.69°WUnalaska — 53.87°N, 166.52°WUnalaska — 53.75°N, 166.00°WSkooner Gulch — 38.87°N, 123.65°WTopanga — 33.56°N, 117.75°WTopanga — 33.81°N, 117.79°WYakumo — 42.45°N, 139.85°EEtolon — 57.43°N, 157.01°EEtolon — 57.74°N, 156.90°EPuente — 33.84°N, 117.82°WPuente — 33.65°N, 117.62°WGoyasu — 36.75°N, 140.13°ETonokita — 43.17°N, 144.00°EMorawan — 43.30°N, 143.77°ELincoln Creek — 46.34°N, 123.51°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Desmostylidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 33 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 9 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Desmostylidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Desmostylidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

309 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 114 sites for Desmostylidae, 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

53 references

Each of the 129 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. 41 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 Desmostylidae

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Desmostylidae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itDesmostyloidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Osborn 1905