Parapontoporia

Parapontoporia is an extinct genus of lipotoid dolphin that lived during the Late Miocene to the Pliocene epochs. This genus can be found attributed across the North American coast of the Pacific Ocean. Fossils have been found in Tulare Formation of California and the Almejas Formation of Mexico.

Parapontoporia

doryfour · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
LipotidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Odontoceti
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marine,freshwaterPBDB, for Odontoceti

Time the record covers

At least 3.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 1.8 Mya.

Miocene — about 2 of 7 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 5 of 7 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 7 occurrencesPleistocene12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–10.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10.0–9.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.6–9.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.2–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.5–8.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.2–7.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.8–7.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.4–7.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.1–6.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.7–6.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.4–6.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.0–5.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.6–5.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.9–4.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.5–4.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.2–3.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.8–3.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.5–3.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.1–2.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.7–2.4 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.4–2.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.0–1.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.246 Mya3.6 Mya12.1 Mya1.3 Mya

7 occurrences of Parapontoporia 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

7 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

San Diego — 32.74°N, 117.17°WSan Diego — 32.90°N, 117.10°WAlmejas — 28.11°N, 115.18°WPurisima — 36.92°N, 121.85°WYushima — 38.98°N, 141.12°ETulare — 35.89°N, 119.92°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Parapontoporia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Parapontoporia and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Parapontoporia and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

72 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 7 sites for Parapontoporia, 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

7 references

Each of the 7 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. 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 Parapontoporia

Credit
doryfour
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Parapontoporia sternbergi · sdnhm:29372

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itLipotidae through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Barnes 1984