Podicipedidae

Grebes are aquatic diving birds in the order Podicipediformes. Grebes are widely distributed freshwater birds, with some species also found in marine habitats during migration and winter. Most grebes fly, although some flightless species exist, most notably in stable lakes. The order contains a single family, the Podicipedidae, which includes 22 species in six extant genera.

Podicipedidae

Steve Garvie from Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
PodicipediformesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

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 1 of 191 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 7 of 191 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 18 of 191 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 121 of 191 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 1 occurrence10–9.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.3–8.4 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 6 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 9 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 11 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 10 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 146 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

191 occurrences of Podicipedidae 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

191 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

25 formations

San Diego — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSan Diego — 32.74°N, 117.17°WSan Diego — 32.68°N, 117.07°WSan Diego — 32.64°N, 117.05°WSan Diego — 32.76°N, 117.13°WSan Diego — 32.74°N, 117.05°WTamiami — 27.78°N, 82.68°WTamiami — 27.37°N, 82.45°WTamiami — 27.34°N, 82.51°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.80°WPalos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WNuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WManix — 34.80°N, 117.00°WNamba — 31.17°S, 140.23°EAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WFort Thompson — 27.80°N, 82.80°WAcredale — 36.79°N, 76.17°WKempsville — 36.79°N, 76.17°WPeace River — 27.74°N, 81.93°WCaloosahatchee — 27.00°N, 82.00°WWicomico — 29.60°N, 82.42°WTemblor — 36.54°N, 120.55°WHagerman — 42.79°N, 114.95°WGlenns Ferry — 42.80°N, 114.90°WAdu Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°EChapala — 20.32°N, 103.19°WOkeechobee — 27.53°N, 80.47°WPampean — 38.20°S, 59.12°WLaguna de Tagua Tagua — 34.50°S, 71.17°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Podicipedidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. One further formation holds fewer occurrences and is not listed. 145 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Podicipedidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Podicipedidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

2,249 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 129 sites for Podicipedidae, and this reads all of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

87 references

Each of the 191 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. 75 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 Podicipedidae

Credit
Steve Garvie from Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
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
Podicipedidae indet. · UF:VP:425446

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 itPodicipediformes through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bonaparte 1831