Oryzomys

Oryzomys is a genus of semiaquatic rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini living in southern North America and far northern South America. It includes eight species, two of which—the marsh rice rat (O. palustris) of the United States and O. couesi of Mexico and Central America—are widespread; the six others have more restricted distributions. The species have had eventful taxonomic histories, and most species were at one time included in the marsh rice rat; additional species may be recognized in the future. The name Oryzomys was established in 1857 by Spencer Fullerton Baird for the marsh rice rat and was soon applied to over a hundred species of American rodents. Subsequently, the genus gradually became more narrowly defined until its current contents were established in 2006, when ten new genera were established for species previously placed in Oryzomys.

Oryzomys

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (presumably) · Public Domain · 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
rice ratPBDB
Sits inside
OryzomyiniPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Rodentia
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Rodentia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 1.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 1.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 4.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 1 of 55 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 41 of 55 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 13 of 55 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.0–3.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.8–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.9–1.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.2–1.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.0–867 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences867 ka–693 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences693 ka–520 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences520 ka–347 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences347 ka–173 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence173 ka–0 Mya — about 46 occurrences1.4 Mya11.7 ka5.2 Mya0 Mya

55 occurrences of Oryzomys on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

55 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

5 formations

Kingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WPalomas — 33.10°N, 107.30°WGood Creek — 34.00°N, 99.80°WFort Thompson — 27.80°N, 82.80°WWicomico — 29.60°N, 82.42°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Oryzomys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 48 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Oryzomys and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Oryzomys and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

906 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 41 sites for Oryzomys, 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

27 references

Each of the 55 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. 15 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 Oryzomys

Credit
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (presumably)
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Oryzomys couesi · ibm:gpp:CNMA 30747

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 itOryzomyini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Baird 1857