Neochoerus

Neochoerus is an extinct genus of rodent closely related to the living capybara. Fossil remains of Neochoerus have been found through North America and South America in Boyacá, Colombia.

Neochoerus

Skye McDavid · CC BY-SA 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
Sits inside
HydrochoerinaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Caviidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Caviidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 1.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 1.8 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 4.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 4 of 69 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 65 of 69 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 69 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.3–4.2 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.0–3.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.8–3.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.9–2.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.9–1.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.2–1.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.0–867 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences867 ka–693 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences693 ka–520 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences520 ka–347 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences347 ka–173 ka Mya — about 6 occurrences173 ka–0 Mya — about 36 occurrences1.8 Mya129 ka5.2 Mya0 Mya

69 occurrences of Neochoerus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

69 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

Wando — 32.88°N, 80.10°WWando — 32.82°N, 80.03°WWando — 33.08°N, 79.94°WWando — 33.11°N, 79.95°WWaccamaw — 33.63°N, 78.95°WWaccamaw — 33.10°N, 80.31°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.03°N, 100.75°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.10°N, 100.80°WSopas — 30.43°S, 56.45°WSopas — 32.05°S, 56.12°WTen Mile Hills Beds — 32.91°N, 80.02°WSt. David — 32.00°N, 110.20°WChapala — 20.30°N, 103.20°WFort Thompson — 27.80°N, 82.80°WSilver Bluff — 32.56°N, 80.29°WTarija — 21.53°S, 64.73°WLujan — 34.60°S, 59.15°WTen Mile Hill Beds — 32.98°N, 80.17°WSoatá — 6.32°N, 72.67°WBacons Castle — 38.16°N, 76.83°WSan Andres — 38.12°S, 57.70°WBeaumont — 29.66°N, 94.09°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Neochoerus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 43 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Neochoerus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Neochoerus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,012 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 60 sites for Neochoerus, 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

48 references

Each of the 69 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. 36 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 Neochoerus

Credit
Skye McDavid
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Hay 1926