Mammalia

Searched as Mammalia indet.. The Paleobiology Database treats Mammalia as the accepted name.

A mammal is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia. Mammals are characterized by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles and birds, from which their ancestors diverged in the Carboniferous period over 300 million years ago. Around 6,640 extant species of mammals have been described and divided into 27 orders. The study of mammals is called mammalogy.

Mammalia

ZKevinTheCat · CC BY 4.0 · 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
mammalPBDB
Sits inside
MammaliaformesPBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Mammaliaformes
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Mammaliaformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 211 million years on record.

The record covers at least 211.18 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 227.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Triassic — about 6 of 615 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 615 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 10 of 615 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 27 of 615 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 31 of 615 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 105 of 615 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 33 of 615 occurrencesEocene — about 56 of 615 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 15 of 615 occurrencesMiocene — about 86 of 615 occurrencesPliocene — about 66 of 615 occurrencesPleistocene — about 137 of 615 occurrences232–224 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences224–216 Mya — about 1 occurrence216–209 Mya — about 2 occurrences209–201 Mya — about 2 occurrences170–162 Mya — about 10 occurrences162–155 Mya — about 2 occurrences155–147 Mya — about 13 occurrences147–139 Mya — about 18 occurrences139–131 Mya — about 4 occurrences131–124 Mya — about 2 occurrences124–116 Mya — about 9 occurrences116–108 Mya — about 6 occurrences108–100 Mya — about 5 occurrences100–93 Mya — about 9 occurrences93–85 Mya — about 2 occurrences85–77 Mya — about 28 occurrences77–70 Mya — about 41 occurrences70–62 Mya — about 49 occurrences62–54 Mya — about 12 occurrences54–46 Mya — about 15 occurrences46–39 Mya — about 23 occurrences39–31 Mya — about 17 occurrences31–23 Mya — about 12 occurrences23–15 Mya — about 51 occurrences15–7.7 Mya — about 22 occurrences7.7–0 Mya — about 260 occurrences211.18 Mya11.7 ka232 Mya0 Mya

615 occurrences of Mammalia 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

615 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

163 formations

Solimões — 8.81°S, 69.24°WSolimões — 8.79°S, 67.47°WSolimões — 10.96°S, 69.74°WSolimões — 10.95°S, 69.62°WSolimões — 10.94°S, 69.52°WSolimões — 10.93°S, 69.42°WSolimões — 9.39°S, 72.72°WSolimões — 8.32°S, 73.28°WSolimões — 8.37°S, 72.81°WSolimões — 8.75°S, 72.83°WSolimões — 8.82°S, 72.82°WSolimões — 8.86°S, 72.77°WSolimões — 8.97°S, 72.78°WSolimões — 8.98°S, 72.72°WSolimões — 9.23°S, 72.70°WSolimões — 8.20°S, 72.75°WSolimões — 9.27°S, 72.68°WVaqueros — 33.64°N, 117.77°WVaqueros — 34.33°N, 119.03°WVaqueros — 34.37°N, 118.82°WVaqueros — 34.32°N, 119.08°WVaqueros — 34.36°N, 118.91°WVaqueros — 34.32°N, 118.84°WVaqueros — 34.45°N, 118.92°WVaqueros — 34.57°N, 119.02°WVaqueros — 34.41°N, 119.32°WVaqueros — 34.52°N, 120.43°WVaqueros — 34.57°N, 120.29°WVaqueros — 34.53°N, 120.35°WVaqueros — 34.58°N, 120.16°WVaqueros — 34.58°N, 120.14°WVaqueros — 34.93°N, 119.06°WVaqueros — 34.98°N, 120.21°WVaqueros — 35.31°N, 120.04°WVaqueros — 35.25°N, 120.06°WVaqueros — 36.18°N, 121.31°WMorrison — 40.42°N, 109.21°WMorrison — 41.89°N, 106.04°WMorrison — 41.98°N, 106.15°WMorrison — 40.47°N, 109.18°WMorrison — 38.54°N, 105.21°WMorrison — 44.46°N, 104.73°WMorrison — 44.63°N, 107.81°WMorrison — 39.15°N, 108.77°WMorrison — 38.25°N, 110.81°WMorrison — 38.58°N, 108.40°WMorrison — 40.30°N, 108.57°WKoobi Fora — 3.59°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.92°N, 36.23°EKoobi Fora — 4.08°N, 36.35°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.43°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EHell Creek — 46.03°N, 103.77°WHell Creek — 46.38°N, 103.96°WHell Creek — 47.55°N, 107.13°WHell Creek — 47.62°N, 107.32°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 107.00°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 46.36°N, 103.90°WHell Creek — 46.10°N, 103.30°WHell Creek — 45.95°N, 103.96°WHell Creek — 45.76°N, 104.92°WHell Creek — 45.95°N, 104.92°WDinosaur Park — 50.74°N, 111.49°WDinosaur Park — 50.79°N, 111.62°WDinosaur Park — 50.75°N, 111.46°WDinosaur Park — 50.75°N, 111.40°WDinosaur Park — 50.78°N, 111.33°WDinosaur Park — 50.56°N, 111.46°WDenver — 38.91°N, 104.53°WVogel River Series — 3.21°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.25°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.23°S, 36.19°EChitarwata — 30.08°N, 70.33°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EOlorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.44°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.34°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°ELance — 44.24°N, 109.02°WLance — 42.58°N, 105.39°WLance — 43.18°N, 104.55°WLance — 45.04°N, 108.80°WLance — 43.12°N, 104.64°WLance — 45.17°N, 109.11°WLance — 43.49°N, 104.46°WWembere-Manonga — 3.88°S, 33.72°EWembere-Manonga — 3.92°S, 33.88°EWembere-Manonga — 3.88°S, 33.97°EWembere-Manonga — 3.93°S, 33.62°ENubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°EWehaietu — 10.73°N, 40.42°EWehaietu — 10.90°N, 40.48°EWehaietu — 10.72°N, 40.50°EWehaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°EGlib Zegdou — 30.00°N, 4.00°WKsar Metlili — 32.70°N, 3.22°WNachukui — 4.25°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 3.90°N, 35.71°ENachukui — 4.16°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 3.95°N, 35.45°EMonte Hermoso — 38.97°S, 61.70°WVihowa — 30.08°N, 70.33°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°E

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The named rock units Mammalia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 139 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 107 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mammalia and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Mammalia and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,779 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 452 sites for Mammalia, 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

280 references

Each of the 615 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. 268 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 content2

Picture of Mammalia

Credit
ZKevinTheCat
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itMammaliaformes through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)