Physeter

Physeter is a genus of toothed whales. There is only one living species in this genus: the sperm whale. Some extremely poorly known fossil species have also been assigned to the same genus including Physeter antiquus from the Pliocene of France, and Physeter vetus from the Quaternary of the U.S. state of Georgia. Physeter vetus is very likely an invalid species, as the few teeth that were used to identify this species appear to be identical to those of another toothed whale, Orycterocetus quadratidens.

Physeter

Gabriel Barathieu · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikidata/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
PhyseteridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB
Environment
oceanicPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 13 million years on record.

The record covers at least 13.82 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 15.98 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 4 of 77 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 12 of 77 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 9 of 77 occurrencesPleistocene16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.9–9.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.3–8.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.8–8.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.2–7.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.7–7.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.1–6.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.6–6.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.0–5.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.5–4.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.4–3.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.8–3.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.3–2.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.7–2.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.2–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–1.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.1–549 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence549 ka–0 Mya — about 56 occurrences13.82 Mya11.7 ka16.5 Mya0 Mya

77 occurrences of Physeter on record. 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

77 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

13 formations

Port Campbell Limestone — 37.72°S, 141.93°EGrange Burn — 37.73°S, 141.94°ECameron Inlet — 39.98°S, 148.08°ESilver Bluff — 32.56°N, 80.29°WWhaler's Bluff — 38.36°S, 141.60°ESables à Gryphaea virleti — 43.61°N, 3.88°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.91°N, 1.36°ESables des Landes — 43.94°N, 0.75°WRed Crag — 51.96°N, 1.35°EEastover — 37.30°N, 77.19°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WVarswater — 33.67°S, 18.43°EKomiya — 35.70°N, 139.37°E

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The named rock units Physeter has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 64 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

724 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 73 sites for Physeter, 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

36 references

Each of the 77 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. 24 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 content2

Picture of Physeter

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

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itPhyseteridae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758