Oxyaenidae

Oxyaenidae is a family of extinct carnivorous placental mammals. Traditionally classified in order Creodonta, this group is now classified in its own order Oxyaenodonta within clade Pan-Carnivora in mirorder Ferae. Phylogenetic analysis recovered them as a sister group to Carnivoraformes, a clade that consisted of Carnivora and close relatives. The group contains four subfamilies comprising fourteen genera. Oxyaenids first appeared during the late Paleocene in North America, with smaller radiations of oxyaenids in Eurasia occurring during the Eocene. They would go extinct in the Middle Eocene being replaced by nimravids, which took over the cat-like niche once occupied by oxyaenids.

Oxyaenidae

Hochgraf, S. B. · CC0 · 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
OxyaenodontaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 19 million years on record.

The record covers at least 57.5 Mya to 37.71 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 60.9 Mya to 27.3 Mya.

Paleocene — about 55 of 324 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 268 of 324 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 324 occurrencesOligocene62–60 Mya — about 1 occurrence60–59 Mya — about 3 occurrences59–58 Mya — about 3 occurrences58–57 Mya — about 20 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 39 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 53 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 53 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 53 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 53 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 9 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 9 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 8 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 6 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 3 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 1 occurrence44–43 Mya — about 1 occurrence43–42 Mya — about 1 occurrence42–41 Mya — about 1 occurrence41–39 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences57.5 Mya37.71 Mya61.6 Mya26.6 Mya

324 occurrences of Oxyaenidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

324 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

31 formations

Willwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.60°N, 108.32°WWillwood — 44.53°N, 108.39°WWillwood — 44.53°N, 108.32°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.86°WWillwood — 44.49°N, 108.81°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.67°WWillwood — 44.56°N, 108.70°WWillwood — 44.82°N, 109.08°WWillwood — 44.44°N, 108.63°WWillwood — 44.57°N, 108.60°WWillwood — 44.42°N, 108.69°WWillwood — 44.63°N, 108.50°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.41°WWillwood — 44.52°N, 108.57°WWillwood — 44.66°N, 108.68°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.78°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.76°WWillwood — 43.92°N, 107.70°WWillwood — 44.42°N, 108.20°WWillwood — 44.15°N, 107.86°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 110.70°WWasatch — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 107.00°WWasatch — 40.60°N, 108.10°WWasatch — 42.70°N, 110.10°WWasatch — 42.37°N, 108.91°WWasatch — 42.24°N, 110.19°WDeBeque — 40.00°N, 107.90°WDeBeque — 39.20°N, 108.20°WDeBeque — 39.70°N, 107.60°WDeBeque — 38.70°N, 107.60°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.38°WFort Union — 44.30°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.05°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.84°N, 108.81°WFort Union — 44.85°N, 108.89°WFort Union — 44.87°N, 108.89°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWind River — 44.00°N, 106.60°WWind River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.33°WSan Jose — 35.70°N, 107.00°WSan Jose — 36.50°N, 107.00°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WBridger — 41.80°N, 110.70°WBridger — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWashakie — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWashakie — 41.29°N, 108.47°WWashakie — 41.42°N, 108.22°WLower Variegated Sequence — 43.90°N, 110.80°WTienen — 50.82°N, 5.10°ETienen — 50.78°N, 4.90°EHuerfano — 37.80°N, 105.10°WAycross — 43.20°N, 108.20°WAycross — 43.70°N, 108.70°WSantiago — 33.19°N, 117.32°WUinta — 40.20°N, 109.90°WArgiles d'lignite du Soissonnais — 49.33°N, 2.66°EVaugirard — 48.81°N, 2.24°EBlackheath Beds — 51.43°N, 0.15°EHetaoyuan — 33.00°N, 111.42°ELas Tetas de Cabra — 28.68°N, 114.08°WIndian Meadows — 43.20°N, 108.20°WClarno — 44.90°N, 120.20°WMargaret — 78.50°N, 82.00°WHeadon Beds — 50.72°N, 1.59°WNaran Bulak — 43.47°N, 100.45°E

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The named rock units Oxyaenidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 33 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Oxyaenidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Oxyaenidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

979 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 273 sites for Oxyaenidae, 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

59 references

Each of the 324 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. 47 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 Oxyaenidae

Credit
Hochgraf, S. B.
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Oxyaenidae 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 itOxyaenodonta through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1877