Otospermophilus

Otospermophilus is a genus of ground squirrels in the family Sciuridae, containing three species from Mexico and the United States. Otospermophilus was formerly placed in the large ground squirrel genus Spermophilus, as a subgenus or species group. Since DNA sequencing of the cytochrome b gene has shown Spermophilus to be paraphyletic to the prairie dogs and marmots, it is now separated, along with six other genera.

Otospermophilus

Donarreiskoffer derivative work: davefoc · CC BY 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
MarmotiniPBDB
Diet
granivore, frugivorePBDB, for Sciuridae
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Sciuridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 12 million years on record.

The record covers at least 12.5 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 66 occurrencesMiocene — about 22 of 66 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 11 of 66 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 24 of 66 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 24 occurrences12.5 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

66 occurrences of Otospermophilus 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

66 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

21 formations

Ash Hollow — 42.39°N, 98.10°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WAsh Hollow — 42.63°N, 100.05°WSt. David — 31.97°N, 110.30°WSt. David — 32.00°N, 110.20°WAlkali Canyon — 45.72°N, 120.20°WAlkali Canyon — 45.84°N, 119.29°WStarlight — 42.80°N, 112.90°WSnake Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WOgallala — 37.20°N, 99.90°WMadison Valley — 45.93°N, 111.29°WRattlesnake — 44.50°N, 119.30°WCoal Valley — 39.00°N, 119.20°WThousand Creek — 41.10°N, 117.80°WGreen Valley — 37.81°N, 121.91°WKern River — 35.30°N, 118.50°WMehrten — 37.60°N, 120.80°WGila Conglomerate — 32.58°N, 109.48°W"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WLa Habra — 33.60°N, 117.80°WTecopa Lake Beds — 36.00°N, 116.25°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.80°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WRiverbank — 38.60°N, 121.50°WMcKay — 45.50°N, 118.80°W

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The named rock units Otospermophilus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 38 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Otospermophilus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Otospermophilus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

964 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 62 sites for Otospermophilus, 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

35 references

Each of the 66 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. 23 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 Otospermophilus

Credit
Donarreiskoffer derivative work: davefoc
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Otospermophilus 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 itMarmotini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Brandt 1844)