Kinosternidae

The Kinosternidae are a family of mostly small turtles that includes the mud turtles and musk turtles. The family contains 25 species within four genera, but taxonomic reclassification is an ongoing process, so many sources vary on the exact numbers of species and subspecies. They inhabit slow-moving bodies of water, often with soft, muddy bottoms and abundant vegetation.

Kinosternidae

User:Dawson · 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
Sits inside
KinosternoideaPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Cryptodira
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Cryptodira
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Cryptodira

Time the record covers

At least 72 million years on record.

The record covers at least 72.2 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 34 of 164 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 4 of 164 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 49 of 164 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 164 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 22 of 164 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 10 of 164 occurrencesPleistocene — about 39 of 164 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 3 occurrences82–80 Mya — about 7 occurrences80–77 Mya — about 7 occurrences77–74 Mya — about 7 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 5 occurrences71–68 Mya — about 3 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 3 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 1 occurrence63–60 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences60–57 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences57–54 Mya — about 15 occurrences54–51 Mya — about 20 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 6 occurrences48–45 Mya — about 5 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences40–37 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 3 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences31–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences26–23 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences23–20 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 4 occurrences14–11 Mya — about 4 occurrences11–8.5 Mya — about 6 occurrences8.5–5.7 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.7–2.8 Mya — about 10 occurrences2.8–0 Mya — about 45 occurrences72.2 Mya11.7 ka85 Mya0 Mya

164 occurrences of Kinosternidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

164 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

42 formations

Willwood — 44.62°N, 108.45°WWillwood — 43.92°N, 107.58°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.21°N, 108.48°WWillwood — 44.08°N, 108.22°WKaiparowits — 37.42°N, 111.79°WKaiparowits — 37.75°N, 111.61°WKaiparowits — 37.58°N, 111.94°WKaiparowits — 37.72°N, 111.78°WKaiparowits — 37.49°N, 112.17°WKaiparowits — 37.30°N, 112.43°WKaiparowits — 37.82°N, 111.40°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWind River — 43.03°N, 108.63°WWind River — 43.27°N, 107.50°WBridger — 41.07°N, 110.00°WBridger — 41.08°N, 110.30°WCerro del Pueblo — 26.12°N, 101.12°WCerro del Pueblo — 25.50°N, 101.40°WCerro del Pueblo — 25.50°N, 101.75°WHell Creek — 46.03°N, 103.77°WHell Creek — 46.10°N, 103.30°WHell Creek — 46.33°N, 103.90°WHell Creek — 47.55°N, 107.13°WChadron — 43.30°N, 102.50°WChadron — 42.00°N, 104.20°WChadron — 43.60°N, 102.45°WRexroad — 37.10°N, 100.90°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WWasatch — 42.76°N, 109.92°WWasatch — 41.64°N, 108.53°WWasatch — 41.70°N, 109.00°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WOgallala — 39.08°N, 99.75°WFort Thompson — 27.80°N, 82.80°WWilliamsburg — 33.43°N, 80.10°WStatenville — 30.40°N, 83.00°WTesuque — 35.06°N, 106.15°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WLaredo — 27.53°N, 99.43°WTamiami — 27.78°N, 82.68°WGoleta — 19.70°N, 101.12°WLance — 43.13°N, 104.49°WPalomas — 33.10°N, 107.30°WMargaret — 78.50°N, 82.00°WSilver Bluff — 32.56°N, 80.29°WSt. David — 31.97°N, 110.30°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Kinosternidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 18 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 49 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Kinosternidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Kinosternidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,795 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 150 sites for Kinosternidae, 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

68 references

Each of the 164 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. 56 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 Kinosternidae

Credit
User:Dawson
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Kinosternidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itKinosternoidea through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Hay 1892)