Geomyidae

Pocket gophers, commonly referred to simply as gophers, are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. The roughly 41 species are all endemic to North and Central America. They are commonly known for their extensive tunneling activities and their ability to damage farms and gardens.

Geomyidae

LeonardoWeiss · CC BY 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
pocket gopherPBDB
Sits inside
CastorimorphiPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB
Life habit
fossorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 29 million years on record.

The record covers at least 29.5 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 1 of 614 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 15 of 614 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 64 of 614 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 108 of 614 occurrencesPleistocene — about 408 of 614 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 1 occurrence31–29 Mya — about 2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 4 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 4 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 4 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences9.8–8.4 Mya — about 10 occurrences8.4–7.0 Mya — about 12 occurrences7.0–5.6 Mya — about 12 occurrences5.6–4.2 Mya — about 33 occurrences4.2–2.8 Mya — about 67 occurrences2.8–1.4 Mya — about 74 occurrences1.4–0 Mya — about 362 occurrences29.5 Mya11.7 ka41.9 Mya0 Mya

614 occurrences of Geomyidae 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

614 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

79 formations

Palm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°W"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WAlamosa — 37.37°N, 105.75°WSan Timoteo — 33.90°N, 117.00°WPauba — 33.90°N, 117.00°WSt. David — 32.00°N, 110.20°WSt. David — 31.97°N, 110.30°WRexroad — 37.10°N, 100.90°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WRexroad — 37.13°N, 100.48°WGlenns Ferry — 42.82°N, 114.94°WGlenns Ferry — 43.00°N, 118.00°WGila Conglomerate — 32.84°N, 110.00°WGila Conglomerate — 32.58°N, 109.48°WGila Conglomerate — 32.90°N, 109.10°WGila Conglomerate — 32.70°N, 109.10°WGila Conglomerate — 32.70°N, 109.00°WGila Conglomerate — 32.69°N, 109.45°WTemecula Arkose — 33.90°N, 117.00°WKingsdown — 37.05°N, 100.50°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WJohn Day — 44.67°N, 119.65°WJohn Day — 44.70°N, 119.63°WJohn Day — 43.98°N, 120.25°WJohn Day — 44.82°N, 119.72°WJohn Day — 44.87°N, 119.73°WCrooked Creek — 37.20°N, 100.30°WCrooked Creek — 39.00°N, 98.20°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.80°WPalos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.76°N, 118.29°WAlkali Canyon — 45.68°N, 120.15°WAlkali Canyon — 45.69°N, 120.15°WDove Spring — 35.30°N, 118.50°WDove Spring — 35.37°N, 117.99°WLove — 31.50°N, 105.20°WMonroe Creek — 43.30°N, 102.50°WAsh Hollow — 40.50°N, 100.50°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 101.89°WAsh Hollow — 41.10°N, 103.00°WBlanco — 33.70°N, 101.10°WRingold — 47.00°N, 118.50°WRingold — 46.30°N, 119.10°WSappa — 41.20°N, 96.60°WSappa — 39.80°N, 98.10°WSappa — 40.20°N, 99.40°WTule — 34.50°N, 101.70°WTule — 34.50°N, 101.30°WGood Creek — 34.00°N, 99.80°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Geomyidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 55 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 275 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Geomyidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Geomyidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,243 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 515 sites for Geomyidae, and this reads 240 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

208 references

Each of the 614 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. 196 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 content1

Picture of Geomyidae

Credit
LeonardoWeiss
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itCastorimorphi through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bonaparte 1845