Mesoplodon

Mesoplodon

Uncredited · Public Domain · via Wikidata/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
HyperoodontinaePBDB
Diet
piscivore, carnivorePBDB, for Ziphiidae
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marine,freshwaterPBDB, for Odontoceti

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 101 occurrencesMiocene — about 14 of 101 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 28 of 101 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 21 of 101 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 1 occurrence10–9.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.4–8.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.6–7.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.8–7.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.1–6.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.3–5.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.5–4.7 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 7 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 9 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 9 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 6 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 7 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 45 occurrences11.63 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

101 occurrences of Mesoplodon on record. 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

101 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

10 formations

Red Crag — 51.96°N, 1.35°EKattendijk — 51.17°N, 4.85°EKattendijk — 51.21°N, 4.43°ECalcari di Cagliari — 39.22°N, 9.11°EGrange Burn — 37.73°S, 141.94°ETangahoe — 39.58°S, 174.28°ECameron Inlet — 39.98°S, 148.08°ERyukyu — 26.70°N, 127.75°ETouril Complex — 37.00°N, 25.15°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WArgille di Serrastretta — 38.98°N, 16.32°E

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The named rock units Mesoplodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 87 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

210 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 91 sites for Mesoplodon, 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

42 references

Each of the 101 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. 30 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 content3

Picture of Mesoplodon

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Mesoplodon hectori · SAMA:Mammalogy:M26434

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itHyperoodontinae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gervais 1850