Edaphodon kawai

Edaphodon kawai was a prehistoric chimaeriform fish species belonging to the genus Edaphodon, of which all the species are now extinct. Edaphodon kawai was a type of rabbitfish, a cartilaginous fish related to sharks and rays, and indeed, some rabbitfishes are still alive today. E. kawai is one of numerous Edaphodon species, but is the only one which has been discovered in the Southern Hemisphere, near New Zealand. Indeed, only a handful of other Chimaeroformes have been discovered in the Southern Hemisphere. They first appeared during the Devonian period around 415 to 360 million years ago, but the only known specimen of E. kawai has been dated to the Late Cretaceous at the height of the rabbitfish's reign. Its scientific name, kawai, means "fish" in the language of the Moriori, a Pacific tribe who inhabited the islands.

No picture of Edaphodon kawai 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 Edaphodon kawai, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
EdaphodonPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Chimaeriformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Chimaeriformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Chimaeriformes

Time the record covers

At most 22 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 83.6 Mya and 61.66 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Late Cretaceous — about 2 of 2 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 2 occurrencesPaleocene84–83 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences83–83 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences80–80 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences76–76 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences73–73 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences70–70 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences67–67 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences65–64 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences64–63 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences63–63 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences63–62 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences62–61 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences84.1 Mya61.2 Mya

2 occurrences of Edaphodon kawai on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

2 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

2 formations

Takatika Grit — 43.76°S, 176.69°WEstratos de Quebrada Municipalidad — 33.37°S, 71.67°W

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The named rock units Edaphodon kawai has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Edaphodon kawai and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Edaphodon kawai and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

18 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Edaphodon kawai, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

2 references

Each of the 2 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content0

No picture of Edaphodon kawai 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 Edaphodon kawai, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Edaphodon kawai 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.

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 itEdaphodon through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Consoli 2006