Gypsonictops

Gypsonictops is an extinct genus of leptictidan mammals of the family Gypsonictopidae, which was described in 1927 by George Gaylord Simpson. Species in this genus were small mammals and the first representatives of the order Leptictida, that appeared during the Upper Cretaceous.

Gypsonictops

George Gaylord Simpson · Public Domain · 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
GypsonictopidaePBDB
Diet
omnivore, frugivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Gypsonictopidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At most 18 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 83.6 Mya and 66 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Late Cretaceous — about 94 of 94 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 94 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences83–83 Mya — about 1 occurrence83–82 Mya — about 1 occurrence82–82 Mya — about 1 occurrence82–81 Mya — about 1 occurrence81–80 Mya — about 1 occurrence80–80 Mya — about 1 occurrence80–79 Mya — about 1 occurrence79–79 Mya — about 1 occurrence79–78 Mya — about 1 occurrence78–77 Mya — about 1 occurrence77–77 Mya — about 1 occurrence77–76 Mya — about 1 occurrence76–75 Mya — about 1 occurrence75–75 Mya — about 1 occurrence75–74 Mya — about 1 occurrence74–74 Mya — about 1 occurrence74–73 Mya — about 1 occurrence73–72 Mya — about 1 occurrence72–72 Mya — about 6 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 7 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 7 occurrences70–70 Mya — about 7 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 7 occurrences69–69 Mya — about 7 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 7 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 7 occurrences67–67 Mya — about 7 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 7 occurrences66–66 Mya — about 1 occurrence84.1 Mya65.5 Mya

94 occurrences of Gypsonictops 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

94 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

16 formations

Hell Creek — 47.63°N, 106.20°WHell Creek — 47.55°N, 107.13°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 107.00°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 47.57°N, 107.10°WHell Creek — 45.50°N, 103.10°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 106.40°WHell Creek — 47.87°N, 106.18°WHell Creek — 47.65°N, 106.20°WHell Creek — 45.40°N, 105.60°WHell Creek — 46.10°N, 103.30°WHell Creek — 47.68°N, 106.43°WHell Creek — 46.27°N, 106.68°WHell Creek — 45.76°N, 104.92°WHell Creek — 46.45°N, 104.02°WLance — 43.18°N, 104.53°WLance — 41.57°N, 108.67°WLance — 43.15°N, 104.57°WLance — 43.25°N, 104.65°WLance — 43.00°N, 104.50°WLance — 43.13°N, 104.49°WLance — 43.25°N, 104.52°WLance — 43.12°N, 104.64°WLance — 43.80°N, 104.62°WLance — 45.04°N, 108.80°WScollard — 52.33°N, 113.12°WScollard — 51.91°N, 112.97°WScollard — 51.80°N, 113.00°WJudith River — 46.42°N, 109.27°WJudith River — 47.81°N, 109.59°WJudith River — 46.10°N, 109.10°WJudith River — 48.57°N, 109.70°WJudith River — 48.93°N, 110.58°WOldman — 50.78°N, 110.50°WOldman — 49.30°N, 110.60°WOldman — 50.90°N, 111.80°WOldman — 49.07°N, 110.66°WKaiparowits — 37.40°N, 111.20°WKaiparowits — 37.80°N, 111.50°WKaiparowits — 37.42°N, 111.77°WFrenchman — 49.30°N, 108.40°WFrenchman — 49.50°N, 109.20°WFrenchman — 49.52°N, 108.82°WMesaverde — 43.20°N, 107.10°WMesaverde — 42.85°N, 107.28°WFruitland — 36.30°N, 108.20°WDinosaur Park — 49.96°N, 110.27°WKirtland — 36.30°N, 108.20°WSt. Mary River — 49.91°N, 112.99°WFerris — 41.94°N, 106.88°WFox Hills — 44.50°N, 102.30°WLaramie — 40.39°N, 104.49°WFruitland/Kirtland — 36.27°N, 108.21°W

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The named rock units Gypsonictops has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Gypsonictops and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

479 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 86 sites for Gypsonictops, 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

35 references

Each of the 94 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. 23 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 Gypsonictops

Credit
George Gaylord Simpson
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Gypsonictops 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 itGypsonictopidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Simpson 1927