Moeritheriidae

Moeritherium is an extinct genus of basal proboscideans from the Eocene of North and West Africa. The first specimen was discovered in strata from the Fayum fossil deposits of Egypt. It was named in 1901 by Charles William Andrews, who suggested that it was an early proboscidean, perhaps ancestral to mastodons, although subsequent workers considered it everything from a relative of manatees to a close relative of both clades' common ancestor. Currently, Moeritherium is seen as a proboscidean that, while fairly basal, diverged before the split between elephantiforms and deinotheres. Seven species have been named, though five are currently considered valid. The name comes from Lake Moeris, and the Ancient Greek θηρίον (thēríon), meaning "beast".

Moeritheriidae

Momotarou2012 · 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
PlesielephantiformesPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Proboscidea
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Proboscidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 3.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 37.71 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 27.3 Mya.

Eocene — about 25 of 27 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 27 occurrencesOligocene49–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences43–43 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences41–41 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences38–38 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 4 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 4 occurrences36–36 Mya — about 4 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 4 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 4 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences33–33 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences41.03 Mya37.71 Mya48.6 Mya26.8 Mya

27 occurrences of Moeritheriidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

27 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

8 formations

Qasr el Sagha — 29.53°N, 30.53°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.66°N, 30.74°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.62°N, 30.69°EJebel Qatrani — 29.64°N, 30.58°EHarudi — 23.51°N, 68.69°EHarudi — 23.51°N, 68.78°ELumachelle calcaire marin — 14.35°N, 16.18°WIdam Unit — 25.71°N, 18.18°EContinental terminal — 16.55°N, 0.33°EBirket Qarun — 29.50°N, 30.50°E

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The named rock units Moeritheriidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Moeritheriidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Moeritheriidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

111 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 23 sites for Moeritheriidae, 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

13 references

Each of the 27 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. 1 further reference is 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 Moeritheriidae

Credit
Momotarou2012
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Moeritheriidae 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 itPlesielephantiformes through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Andrews 1906