Mesoplodon

Searched as Diplodon sp.. The Paleobiology Database treats Mesoplodon as the accepted name.

No picture of Mesoplodon was found. iDigBio was searched and had none. Wikipedia and Wikidata have a picture filed under this name, but nothing tied it to Mesoplodon itself, so it was not used. 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 Mesoplodon, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
HyperoodontinaePBDB
Diet
piscivore, carnivorePBDB, for Ziphiidae
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marine,freshwaterPBDB, for Odontoceti

Time the record covers

At least 236 million years on record.

The record covers at least 237 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 247 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 0 of 30 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 1 of 30 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 0 of 30 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 30 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 30 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 1 of 30 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 0 of 30 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 13 of 30 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 30 occurrencesEocene — about 3 of 30 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 30 occurrencesMiocene — about 10 of 30 occurrencesPliocene — about 0 of 30 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 30 occurrences252–244 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences244–235 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences160–151 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences151–143 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences101–92 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences92–84 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences84–76 Mya — about 3 occurrences76–67 Mya — about 7 occurrences67–59 Mya — about 1 occurrence59–50 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences50–42 Mya — about 1 occurrence42–34 Mya — about 1 occurrence25–17 Mya — about 1 occurrence17–8.4 Mya — about 7 occurrences8.4–0 Mya — about 4 occurrences237 Mya11.7 ka252 Mya0 Mya

30 occurrences of Mesoplodon on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

30 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

11 formations

Loncoche — 35.52°S, 69.72°WLoncoche — 36.52°S, 69.45°WLoncoche — 36.53°S, 69.67°WLoncoche — 35.83°S, 69.67°WLoncoche — 36.25°S, 69.85°WPebas — 3.67°S, 71.77°WPebas — 4.25°S, 73.38°WPebas — 3.33°S, 71.83°WPebas — 3.50°S, 73.10°WPebas — 7.36°S, 74.96°WAllen — 40.02°S, 66.71°WAllen — 39.75°S, 66.75°WSolimões — 10.94°S, 69.34°WSolimões — 8.82°S, 69.23°WSolimões — 6.50°S, 69.67°WVaca Mahuida — 37.35°S, 67.61°WVaca Mahuida — 40.00°S, 67.00°WJagüel — 35.83°S, 69.67°WTilson Siltstone — 46.38°S, 169.78°EPortezuelo — 38.90°S, 69.60°WTacuarembó — 31.73°S, 56.03°WPalo Pintado — 25.81°S, 65.48°WSanta Cruz — 50.21°S, 69.72°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Mesoplodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mesoplodon and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Mesoplodon and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

210 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 91 sites for Mesoplodon, 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 30 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 content0

No picture of Mesoplodon was found. iDigBio was searched and had none.

Wikipedia and Wikidata have a picture filed under this name, but nothing tied it to Mesoplodon itself, so it was not used.

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 Mesoplodon, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Mesoplodon 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.

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

Keep going

What may have been alongside itHyperoodontinae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1866