Diodon

Porcupinefishes or balloonfishes are any of the various species of the genus Diodon, the type genus of Diodontidae.

Diodon

Alain Feulvarch · CC BY 2.0 · 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
DiodontidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Tetraodontiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Tetraodontiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Tetraodontiformes

Time the record covers

At least 48 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 90 occurrencesEocene — about 8 of 90 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 90 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 24 of 90 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 10 of 90 occurrencesPleistocene — about 12 of 90 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 1 occurrence38–36 Mya — about 1 occurrence36–34 Mya — about 1 occurrence34–32 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 3 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.5–7.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 8 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 44 occurrences48.07 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

90 occurrences of Diodon 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

90 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

29 formations

Yorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WPirabas — 1.18°S, 47.22°WPirabas — 0.48°S, 48.17°WPirabas — 0.63°S, 47.54°WCromer Forest Bed — 52.92°N, 1.34°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.88°N, 1.44°ERed Crag — 51.96°N, 1.35°ESubathu — 30.98°N, 76.98°EJaffna — 8.28°N, 79.82°ETamiami — 26.72°N, 81.67°WLoxton — 34.15°S, 139.91°EPort Campbell Limestone — 37.72°S, 141.93°EFyansford — 38.18°S, 144.50°EBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WJaffna Limestone — 8.26°N, 79.84°EBolognano — 42.24°N, 14.04°EGosport — 31.50°N, 87.90°WCoosawatchie — 33.10°N, 80.40°WBone Valley — 27.90°N, 81.80°WBaripada Limestone — 21.93°N, 86.72°EYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WMoodys Branch — 32.90°N, 90.19°WPeace River — 27.50°N, 82.50°WCalcarenites of Sant Elm — 39.92°N, 3.06°EEastover — 38.16°N, 76.83°WBlack Rock Sandstone — 37.98°S, 145.05°EBissex Hill — 13.22°N, 59.55°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Diodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 55 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

1,447 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 82 sites for Diodon, 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

63 references

Each of the 90 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. 51 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 Diodon

Credit
Alain Feulvarch
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Diodon nicthemerus · am:ichthyology:20189-009

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows 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 itDiodontidae through timeThe world it lived on

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