Physeteroidea

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.

Physeteroidea

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
Sits inside
OdontocetiPBDB
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 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 4 of 436 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 260 of 436 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 73 of 436 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 25 of 436 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 12 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 12 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 12 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 12 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 13 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 20 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 20 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 14 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 14 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 15 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 16 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 16 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 16 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 16 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 20 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 21 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 28 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 29 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 17 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 16 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 6 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 81 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

436 occurrences of Physeteroidea 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

436 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

93 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°WPisco — 15.50°S, 74.80°WPisco — 15.55°S, 74.80°WPisco — 14.56°S, 75.67°WPisco — 15.56°S, 74.69°WPisco — 14.34°S, 75.91°WPisco — 14.52°S, 75.71°WPisco — 14.45°S, 75.71°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°EPietra Leccese — 40.33°N, 18.19°ERed Crag — 51.96°N, 1.35°ERed Crag — 52.09°N, 1.31°EPeace River — 27.83°N, 81.97°WPeace River — 27.76°N, 81.83°WPeace River — 27.78°N, 81.94°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WBerchem — 51.16°N, 4.41°EBerchem — 51.17°N, 4.46°EBerchem — 51.15°N, 4.63°EBahía Inglesa — 27.08°S, 70.84°WBahía Inglesa — 27.14°S, 70.88°WBahía Inglesa — 27.04°S, 70.79°WBahía Inglesa — 27.16°S, 70.89°WUpper Main Phosphorite Conglomerate — 35.87°N, 14.42°EUpper Main Phosphorite Conglomerate — 35.07°N, 14.19°EUpper Main Phosphorite Conglomerate — 35.84°N, 14.57°EUpper Main Phosphorite Conglomerate — 35.91°N, 14.33°EPort Campbell Limestone — 37.72°S, 141.93°EPort Campbell Limestone — 38.39°S, 142.61°EPort Campbell Limestone — 38.37°S, 141.63°ESalsomaggiore — 44.73°N, 10.03°EChilcatay — 14.59°S, 75.64°WAlmejas — 28.37°N, 115.18°WAlmejas — 28.11°N, 115.18°WMonterey — 34.40°N, 119.72°WMonterey — 33.56°N, 117.71°WMonterey — 33.60°N, 117.80°WBlack Rock Sandstone — 37.99°S, 145.04°EBlack Rock Sandstone — 37.98°S, 145.05°EGroote Heide — 52.04°N, 6.67°EDiest — 51.22°N, 4.46°EDiest — 51.21°N, 4.43°EAlexander Bay — 30.32°S, 17.29°EKadonosawa — 39.35°N, 140.77°EKadonosawa — 40.63°N, 141.17°EGaiman — 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°ECapistrano — 33.56°N, 117.71°WTirabuzon — 27.31°N, 112.25°W

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The named rock units Physeteroidea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 69 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 175 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Physeteroidea and its relatives

Miocene

Where Physeteroidea and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

2,114 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 311 sites for Physeteroidea, and this reads 240 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

213 references

Each of the 436 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. 201 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 Physeteroidea

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

No 3D scan of Physeteroidea was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource 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 itOdontoceti through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1868