Diatomyidae

Diatomyidae is a family of hystricomorph rodents. It is represented by a single living species, Laonastes aenigmamus, native to Laos in Southeast Asia. Fossil species are known from the Oligocene and Miocene of Asia and eastern Europe.

Diatomyidae

Jean-Pierre Hugot · CC BY 2.5 · 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
CtenodactylomorphiPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Rodentia
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Rodentia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

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 5.333 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 40 occurrencesOligocene — about 21 of 40 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 19 of 40 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 40 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 2 occurrences32–32 Mya — about 2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 2 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences11–9.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.7–8.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.7–7.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.7–6.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.7–5.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.8–4.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27.3 Mya11.63 Mya34.5 Mya4.8 Mya

40 occurrences of Diatomyidae 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

40 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

7 formations

Chitarwata — 28.85°N, 69.20°EChitarwata — 30.08°N, 70.33°EChitarwata — 28.85°N, 69.13°ELower Manchar — 26.42°N, 67.83°EKargil — 34.55°N, 76.13°EXiacaowan — 33.45°N, 118.20°EVihowa — 30.08°N, 70.33°EShanwang — 36.52°N, 118.54°ENagri — 32.50°N, 72.50°E

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The named rock units Diatomyidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 9 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Diatomyidae and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Diatomyidae and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

285 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 29 sites for Diatomyidae, 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

16 references

Each of the 40 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. 4 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 Diatomyidae

Credit
Jean-Pierre Hugot
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Diatomyidae 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.

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. Mein and Ginsburg 1997