Paraulopus

Paraulopus is the only genus in the family Paraulopidae, a family of grinners in the order Aulopiformes. They are commonly known as cucumberfishes, but locally some other Teleostei are also known by that name. They were considered in the Chlorophthalmidae or greeneye family until 2001.

Paraulopus

R. Mintern · 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
Sits inside
ParaulopidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Aulopiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Aulopiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Aulopiformes

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 3.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 3 Mya.

Eocene — about 13 of 41 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 41 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 25 of 41 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 41 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 41 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences43–41 Mya — about 2 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 2 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 1 occurrence38–36 Mya — about 2 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 2 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 1 occurrence29–27 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 7 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 9 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 4 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.2–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–2.1 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences41.03 Mya3.7 Mya49 Mya2.1 Mya

41 occurrences of Paraulopus on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

41 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

11 formations

Mount Harris — 44.48°S, 170.90°EMount Harris — 45.21°S, 170.88°EMount Harris — 45.15°S, 170.93°EMount Harris — 45.13°S, 170.96°EMount Harris — 44.41°S, 171.06°EMount Harris — 44.49°S, 171.01°EMount Harris — 45.03°S, 171.02°EMount Harris — 44.79°S, 171.03°EWaihao Greensand — 44.80°S, 170.98°EWaihao Greensand — 44.40°S, 171.04°ERifle Butts — 45.03°S, 170.02°ERifle Butts Siltstone — 45.14°S, 170.93°ELa Meseta — 64.23°S, 56.65°WWaioha Shellbeds — 34.50°S, 172.96°EPakaurangi — 36.24°S, 174.28°ESlip Point Siltstone — 46.03°S, 167.71°EWhenuataru Tuff — 44.23°S, 176.23°EDonzacq Marl — 43.75°N, 0.84°WMiretrain Marl — 43.57°N, 1.11°W

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The named rock units Paraulopus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 17 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Paraulopus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Paraulopus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

366 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 37 sites for Paraulopus, 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

8 references

Each of the 41 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 content1

Picture of Paraulopus

Credit
R. Mintern
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Paraulopus was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itParaulopidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Sato and Nakabo 2002