Dinosorex

Dinosorex is an extinct eulipotyphlan genus, popularly referred to as giant terror shrews due to their fearsome lower incisors. Dinosorex lived in Europe from the late Oligocene or early Miocene to the late Miocene, with a range that stretched from Ukraine to Iberia. It was about the size of a modern hedgehog, but its enlarged and strengthened incisors may have allowed it to adopt a partially carnivorous diet, as opposed to the strictly insectivorous diet of most modern mammals of that size.

No picture of Dinosorex was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Dinosorex, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
HeterosoricinaePBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Soricidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Soricidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 14 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 8.725 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 5.333 Mya.

Oligocene — about 4 of 57 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 53 of 57 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 57 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences26–26 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 3 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 4 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 4 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 6 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 5 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 3 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences9.4–8.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.7–7.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.9–7.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.1–6.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.4–5.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.6–4.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23.04 Mya8.725 Mya27.8 Mya4.8 Mya

57 occurrences of Dinosorex 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

57 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

8 formations

Upper Freshwater Molasse — 48.66°N, 10.23°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.16°N, 10.11°EStudienka — 48.20°N, 17.98°EVille — 50.90°N, 6.45°ELaa — 48.37°N, 16.35°EEdelény — 48.39°N, 20.64°ESajovolgyi — 47.97°N, 19.69°EOlesa-Les Fonts alluvial system — 41.54°N, 2.06°EHarmangazi — 38.37°N, 31.87°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Dinosorex has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 46 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dinosorex and its relatives

Miocene

Where Dinosorex and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

802 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 55 sites for Dinosorex, 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

30 references

Each of the 57 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. 18 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 content0

No picture of Dinosorex was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Dinosorex, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Dinosorex 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 itHeterosoricinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Engesser 1972