Dromaius

Dromaius is a genus of ratite present in Australia. There is one extant species, Dromaius novaehollandiae, commonly known as the emu.

Dromaius

J. Folmer, nl:Gebruiker:Jcwf · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
Also called
emuPBDB
Sits inside
CasuariidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 3 of 18 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 5 of 18 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 10 of 18 occurrencesPleistocene16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.9–9.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.3–8.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.8–8.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.2–7.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.7–7.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.1–6.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.6–6.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.0–5.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.5–4.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.9–4.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.4–3.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.8–3.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences3.3–2.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.7–2.2 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.2–1.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.6–1.1 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.1–549 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence549 ka–0 Mya — about 6 occurrences11.63 Mya129 ka16.5 Mya0 Mya

18 occurrences of Dromaius on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

18 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

6 formations

Waite — 23.70°S, 133.88°EWaite — 22.87°S, 134.87°EMampuwordu Sands — 27.75°S, 140.73°ETirari — 28.77°S, 138.42°ECamfield Beds — 17.12°S, 131.52°EChinchilla Sand — 26.75°S, 150.63°EKatipiri — 27.75°S, 140.73°E

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The named rock units Dromaius 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.

Dromaius and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Dromaius and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

185 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 16 sites for Dromaius, 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

10 references

Each of the 18 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 content3

Picture of Dromaius

Credit
J. Folmer, nl:Gebruiker:Jcwf
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Dromaius novaehollandiae · NHMUK:zoo:NHMUK S/2001.50.1.

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itCasuariidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Vieillot 1816