Ochotonidae

Ochotonidae is a family of small mammals belonging to the order Lagomorpha, which also contains the rabbits and hares. Members of the family are known as ochotonids, or more colloquially as pikas. While the only extant members of the family are those in the genus Ochotona, many extinct species and genera have been assigned to the family. One such genus, Prolagus, may belong to its own family, Prolagidae.

Ochotonidae

Charles J. Sharp · 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
Also called
pikaPBDB
Sits inside
LagomorphaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 1 of 790 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 117 of 790 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 459 of 790 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 89 of 790 occurrencesPleistocene — about 119 of 790 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 2 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 4 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 20 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 32 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 36 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 41 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 32 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 34 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 38 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 54 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 62 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 57 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 48 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 29 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 17 occurrences9.8–8.4 Mya — about 18 occurrences8.4–7.0 Mya — about 19 occurrences7.0–5.6 Mya — about 25 occurrences5.6–4.2 Mya — about 48 occurrences4.2–2.8 Mya — about 40 occurrences2.8–1.4 Mya — about 40 occurrences1.4–0 Mya — about 89 occurrences37.71 Mya11.7 ka41.9 Mya0 Mya

790 occurrences of Ochotonidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

790 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

110 formations

Loh — 45.49°N, 101.20°ELoh — 45.50°N, 101.97°ELoh — 45.31°N, 101.63°ELoh — 45.26°N, 101.72°ELoh — 45.54°N, 101.01°ELoh — 45.35°N, 101.84°ELoh — 45.54°N, 101.14°EHsanda Gol — 45.39°N, 101.24°EHsanda Gol — 45.45°N, 101.37°EHsanda Gol — 45.27°N, 101.76°EHsanda Gol — 45.30°N, 101.62°EHsanda Gol — 45.30°N, 102.08°EValentine — 42.70°N, 100.00°WValentine — 42.49°N, 98.11°WValentine — 42.81°N, 100.05°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 107.10°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 108.20°WUpper Freshwater Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 47.92°N, 10.59°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.15°N, 9.88°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.66°N, 10.23°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.09°N, 10.03°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.16°N, 10.11°EXianshuihe — 35.15°N, 105.11°EXianshuihe — 36.46°N, 104.16°ERunningwater — 42.49°N, 102.96°WRunningwater — 42.80°N, 103.10°WRunningwater — 42.75°N, 102.00°WRunningwater — 42.70°N, 102.10°WRunningwater — 42.45°N, 102.96°WRunningwater — 42.20°N, 103.10°WRunningwater — 42.37°N, 103.32°WSespe — 33.83°N, 117.71°WSespe — 33.73°N, 117.72°WSespe — 33.59°N, 117.76°WSespe — 33.60°N, 117.61°WLower Freshwater Molasse — 46.88°N, 7.11°EAral — 47.37°N, 60.87°EAral — 50.30°N, 57.18°EAral — 46.78°N, 60.50°EAral — 46.80°N, 60.58°EAral — 50.20°N, 66.80°EZanda — 31.42°N, 79.75°EZanda — 31.57°N, 79.87°EZanda — 31.48°N, 79.80°EVaqueros — 33.78°N, 117.77°WVaqueros — 33.78°N, 117.75°WVaqueros — 33.75°N, 117.75°Wfacies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°EAsh Hollow — 42.39°N, 98.10°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 101.89°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WAsh Hollow — 42.63°N, 100.05°WLefkon — 41.13°N, 23.48°ELefkon — 41.18°N, 23.42°ELefkon — 41.17°N, 23.50°ELefkon — 40.78°N, 24.03°ELower Freshwater Molasse — 48.36°N, 9.87°ELower Freshwater Molasse — 48.42°N, 9.95°EBrackwater Molasse — 48.48°N, 10.10°EWood Mountain — 49.17°N, 105.99°WWood Mountain — 49.20°N, 106.20°WChikoi — 51.03°N, 106.65°EMonroe Creek — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBatesland — 43.20°N, 101.80°WBatesland — 43.13°N, 101.87°WSuosuoquan — 46.50°N, 87.50°ESuosuoquan — 46.31°N, 88.02°ESuosuoquan — 46.66°N, 88.34°EXiacaowan — 33.45°N, 118.20°EUlantatal — 39.20°N, 105.57°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Ochotonidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 86 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 426 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ochotonidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Ochotonidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

2,438 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 584 sites for Ochotonidae, 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

274 references

Each of the 790 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. 262 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 Ochotonidae

Credit
Charles J. Sharp
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Ochotonidae 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 itLagomorpha through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Thomas 1897