Phyllotis

Phyllotis is a genus of rodent in the family Cricetidae. These mice are commonly confused with Auliscomys, Graomys and Loxodontomys. In order to tell these genera apart, one must look at the tail. Species in the genus Phyllotis have a penicillate tip on their tail which is not present in the other two genera. Tails in the genus Phyllotis are also less than the length of its head and body combined whereas in Graomys, tails are longer than the head and body combined. P. xanthopygus was found at the summit of Volcán Llullaillaco, which is the highest altitude a mammal has yet been found in nature.

Phyllotis

George Robert Waterhouse, William Dickes? · 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
PhyllotiniPBDB
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 762 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 774 ka to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 2.58 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 0 of 15 occurrencesPleistocene — about 12 of 15 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 3 of 15 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.6–2.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.5–2.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.3–2.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.2–2.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.1–2.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.0–1.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.8–1.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.6–1.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.5–1.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.4–1.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.3–1.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.2–1.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.1–1.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.0–924 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences924 ka–821 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences821 ka–719 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences719 ka–616 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences616 ka–513 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences513 ka–411 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences411 ka–308 ka Mya — about 0.7 occurrences308 ka–205 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences205 ka–103 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences103 ka–0 Mya — about 9 occurrences774 ka11.7 ka3.08 Mya0 Mya

15 occurrences of Phyllotis 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

15 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

3 formations

Tarija — 21.53°S, 64.73°WNuapua — 20.87°S, 63.07°WTafí del Valle — 26.92°S, 65.70°W

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The named rock units Phyllotis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Phyllotis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Phyllotis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

279 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Phyllotis, 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

11 references

Each of the 15 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 Phyllotis

Credit
George Robert Waterhouse, William Dickes?
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
Phyllotis gerbillus · umzc:E.2597

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 itPhyllotini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Waterhouse 1837