Physeteridae

Physeteroidea is a superfamily that includes three extant species of whales: the sperm whale, in the genus Physeter, and the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale, in the genus Kogia. In the past, these genera have sometimes been united in a single family, the Physeteridae, with the two Kogia species in the subfamily Kogiinae; however, recent practice is to allocate the genus Kogia to its own family, the Kogiidae, leaving the Physeteridae as a monotypic family, although additional fossil representatives of both families are known.

Physeteridae

Will Falcon aka Vitaly Sokol · CC BY 4.0 · 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
Also called
sperm whalePBDB
Sits inside
PhyseteroideaPBDB
Diet
piscivore, carnivorePBDB
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marine,freshwaterPBDB, for Odontoceti

Time the record covers

At least 21 million years on record.

The record covers at least 21.7 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 1 of 215 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 114 of 215 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 33 of 215 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 13 of 215 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 6 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 6 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 6 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 6 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 7 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 12 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 12 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 9 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 9 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 6 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 4 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 5 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 11 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 13 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 8 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 7 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 59 occurrences21.7 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

215 occurrences of Physeteridae on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

215 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

58 formations

Calvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WCalvert — 38.54°N, 76.73°WCalvert — 38.40°N, 76.50°WCalvert — 38.67°N, 76.53°WCalvert — 38.53°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 37.22°N, 76.96°WCalvert — 38.20°N, 76.94°WCalvert — 38.38°N, 76.99°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WYorktown — 35.60°N, 77.37°WPietra Leccese — 40.35°N, 18.17°EPietra Leccese — 40.15°N, 18.30°EPort Campbell Limestone — 37.72°S, 141.93°EPort Campbell Limestone — 38.39°S, 142.61°EPort Campbell Limestone — 38.37°S, 141.63°EBerchem — 51.16°N, 4.41°EBerchem — 51.15°N, 4.63°EBerchem — 51.22°N, 4.46°ERed Crag — 51.96°N, 1.35°ERed Crag — 52.09°N, 1.31°EPisco — 15.55°S, 74.80°WPisco — 14.56°S, 75.67°WPisco — 15.56°S, 74.69°WGroote Heide — 52.04°N, 6.67°EPungo River — 35.40°N, 76.80°WDiest — 51.22°N, 4.46°EDiest — 51.21°N, 4.43°EAlmejas — 28.11°N, 115.18°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WPeace River — 27.82°N, 81.82°WGaiman — 42.78°S, 65.04°WGaiman — 43.30°S, 65.42°WWhaler's Bluff — 38.36°S, 141.60°EGrange Burn — 37.73°S, 141.94°EBlack Rock Sandstone — 37.99°S, 145.04°EChilcatay — 14.62°S, 75.64°WTamiami — 27.34°N, 82.51°WTemblor — 35.30°N, 118.50°WLangenfelde — 53.52°N, 10.29°ELibano Sandstone — 46.14°N, 12.22°EBatesford Limestone — 38.09°S, 144.28°ECameron Inlet — 39.98°S, 148.08°EMonterey — 33.56°N, 117.71°W

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The named rock units Physeteridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 34 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 103 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Physeteridae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Physeteridae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,980 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 179 sites for Physeteridae, 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

121 references

Each of the 215 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. 109 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 Physeteridae

Credit
Will Falcon aka Vitaly Sokol
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itPhyseteroidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1821