Desmostylus japonicus

Desmostylus japonicus

Uncredited · via Wikidata/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
DesmostylusPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Desmostylia
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Desmostylia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Desmostylia
Environment
coastalPBDB, for Desmostylia

Time the record covers

At least 4.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.63 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 5.333 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 37 occurrencesOligocene — about 1 of 37 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 36 of 37 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 37 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 1 occurrence22–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 5 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 4 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–9.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.7–8.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.7–7.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.7–6.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.7–5.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.8–4.8 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences15.98 Mya11.63 Mya34.5 Mya4.8 Mya

37 occurrences of Desmostylus japonicus 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

37 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

27 formations

Fujina — 35.47°N, 133.08°EFujina — 35.43°N, 133.04°EYakumo — 42.45°N, 139.85°EKadonosawa — 39.35°N, 140.77°ETemblor — 35.30°N, 118.50°WNiwaya — 36.25°N, 138.98°EShinkida — 35.50°N, 137.83°EKurashi — 49.23°N, 143.11°ENaihoro — 48.25°N, 142.15°EAushi — 47.90°N, 142.14°EKotanbetsu — 44.72°N, 141.80°EHoroshin — 44.02°N, 141.67°ETappu — 43.53°N, 141.55°EKawabata — 43.73°N, 143.74°EChokubetsu — 42.90°N, 143.38°ENiseiepets — 42.42°N, 140.01°EOgawa — 42.42°N, 139.88°EShimokurosawa — 38.89°N, 141.12°EAjiri — 38.53°N, 141.05°ESugota — 39.19°N, 140.37°EKamenoo — 37.05°N, 140.89°EIwaodai — 36.64°N, 137.15°EShitsumi — 37.32°N, 137.15°EIwori — 37.08°N, 136.94°EYoshitaki — 36.86°N, 136.99°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Desmostylus japonicus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Desmostylus japonicus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Desmostylus japonicus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

17 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 33 sites for Desmostylus japonicus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

10 references

Each of the 37 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. 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 Desmostylus japonicus

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 Desmostylus japonicus 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.

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itDesmostylus through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Tokunaga and Iwasaki 1914)