Ontocetus

Ontocetus

Van Beneden · 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
OdobeniniPBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Odobenidae
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Pinnipedia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Pinnipedia

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 210 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Oligocene — about 0 of 76 occurrencesMiocene — about 12 of 76 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 44 of 76 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 20 of 76 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences9.4–8.6 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 10 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 12 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 13 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 12 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 6 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 6 occurrences11.63 Mya210 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

76 occurrences of Ontocetus on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

76 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

19 formations

Yorktown — 37.24°N, 76.51°WYorktown — 37.03°N, 76.63°WYorktown — 37.20°N, 76.90°WYorktown — 36.77°N, 76.37°WYorktown — 37.22°N, 76.96°WYorktown — 36.45°N, 77.09°WYorktown — 36.33°N, 77.58°WYorktown — 35.93°N, 77.57°WYorktown — 35.91°N, 77.32°WYorktown — 35.60°N, 77.37°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WYorktown — 35.38°N, 77.99°WYorktown — 35.10°N, 77.03°WYorktown — 35.63°N, 77.34°WYorktown — 34.36°N, 77.87°WYorktown — 34.97°N, 76.81°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WPeace River — 27.76°N, 81.83°WPeace River — 27.81°N, 81.91°WTamiami — 27.70°N, 82.50°WTamiami — 27.50°N, 82.50°WTamiami — 27.33°N, 82.52°WTamiami — 27.37°N, 82.45°WTamiami — 27.08°N, 82.45°WTamiami — 26.98°N, 82.21°WLillo — 51.21°N, 4.43°EGoose Creek — 33.00°N, 80.18°WGoose Creek — 32.77°N, 79.92°WGoose Creek — 32.43°N, 80.67°WNorwich Crag — 52.24°N, 1.05°ENorwich Crag — 52.35°N, 1.53°ENorwich Crag — 52.18°N, 1.35°ERed Crag — 51.96°N, 1.35°ERed Crag — 52.05°N, 1.25°EDiest — 51.22°N, 4.46°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.91°N, 1.36°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.93°N, 1.30°EC1/LR — 33.58°N, 7.65°WCanepatch — 33.90°N, 78.60°WRaysor — 33.33°N, 80.18°WBermont — 26.90°N, 82.00°WGrebbeberg — 51.96°N, 5.57°EOosterhout — 51.70°N, 5.73°EWestkapelle Ground — 51.62°N, 3.88°EGroote Heide — 52.04°N, 6.67°EWaccamaw — 33.10°N, 80.31°WJoshita — 36.62°N, 138.06°E

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The named rock units Ontocetus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 23 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ontocetus and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Ontocetus and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

943 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 68 sites for Ontocetus, 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

23 references

Each of the 76 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. 11 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 Ontocetus

Credit
Van Beneden
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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

Keep going

What may have been alongside itOdobenini through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Leidy 1859