Polydolopimorphia

Polydolopimorphia is an extinct order of metatherians, closely related to extant marsupials. Known from the Paleocene-Pliocene of South America and the Eocene of Antarctica, they were a diverse group during the Paleogene, filling many niches, before declining and becoming extinct at the end of the Neogene. It is divided into two suborders, Bonapartheriiformes, and Polydolopiformes Most members are only known from jaw fragments, which have their characteristically generally bunodont teeth. The morphology of their teeth has led to proposals that polydolopimorphians may be crown group marsupials, nested within Australidelphia, though this proposal, has been questioned, with other analyses finding them outside of crown-group Marsupialia. The monophyly of the group has been questioned, due to the possibility of the characteristic bunodont teeth emerging convergently in unrelated groups, rather than reflecting a true phylogenetic relationship. The group contained omnivorous, frugivorous and herbivorous forms.

Polydolopimorphia

Nobu Tamura (nobu.tamura@yahoo.com) · CC BY-SA 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
MarsupialiformesPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Metatheria
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Theria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Mammalia

Time the record covers

At least 71 million years on record.

The record covers at least 72.2 Mya to 400 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Late Cretaceous — about 32 of 248 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 8 of 248 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 133 of 248 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 38 of 248 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 18 of 248 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 17 of 248 occurrencesPleistocene — about 3 of 248 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences82–80 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences80–77 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences77–74 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 6 occurrences71–68 Mya — about 13 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 11 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 3 occurrences63–60 Mya — about 1 occurrence60–57 Mya — about 1 occurrence57–54 Mya — about 12 occurrences54–51 Mya — about 14 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 13 occurrences48–45 Mya — about 15 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 15 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 25 occurrences40–37 Mya — about 31 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 11 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 14 occurrences31–28 Mya — about 14 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 7 occurrences26–23 Mya — about 4 occurrences23–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 1 occurrence14–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–8.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.5–5.7 Mya — about 7 occurrences5.7–2.8 Mya — about 17 occurrences2.8–0 Mya — about 3 occurrences72.2 Mya400 ka85 Mya0 Mya

248 occurrences of Polydolopimorphia on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

248 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

44 formations

Sarmiento — 44.65°S, 68.40°WSarmiento — 44.42°S, 68.67°WSarmiento — 45.67°S, 68.67°WSarmiento — 45.33°S, 68.00°WSarmiento — 44.35°S, 69.78°WSarmiento — 44.17°S, 69.25°WSarmiento — 44.50°S, 68.83°WSarmiento — 45.77°S, 69.00°WSarmiento — 43.28°S, 65.48°WSarmiento — 45.00°S, 67.70°WSarmiento — 45.78°S, 68.47°WHell Creek — 47.55°N, 107.12°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 107.00°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 47.57°N, 107.10°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 106.40°WHell Creek — 47.87°N, 106.18°WHell Creek — 47.68°N, 106.43°WHell Creek — 47.63°N, 106.20°WHell Creek — 45.76°N, 104.92°WHell Creek — 45.66°N, 105.08°WHell Creek — 46.45°N, 104.02°WPozo — 7.33°S, 74.95°WPozo — 7.33°S, 74.95°WPozo — 6.58°S, 76.28°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.65°WLa Meseta — 64.23°S, 56.67°WAndesitas Huancache — 42.78°S, 69.86°WLas Flores — 45.40°S, 67.18°WLas Flores — 45.60°S, 69.08°WLas Flores — 45.37°S, 67.74°WItaboraí — 22.84°S, 42.88°WAbanico — 34.98°S, 70.43°WAbanico — 34.38°S, 70.84°WGeste — 26.06°S, 67.41°WGeste — 24.50°S, 66.58°WCerro Azul — 37.73°S, 63.53°WCerro Azul — 36.70°S, 64.28°WCerro Azul — 36.25°S, 65.51°WCerro Azul — 36.68°S, 64.18°WLance — 43.15°N, 104.57°WLance — 43.25°N, 104.65°WLance — 43.12°N, 104.64°WMonte Hermoso — 38.97°S, 61.70°WLumbrera — 25.83°S, 65.45°WLumbrera — 25.52°S, 65.53°WUmala — 18.83°S, 66.15°WUmala — 17.08°S, 68.00°WUmala — 17.15°S, 68.83°WMuñani — 15.73°S, 70.17°WYahuarango — 9.49°S, 72.76°WIrene — 38.63°S, 60.61°WIrene — 38.67°S, 60.60°WQuebrada de los Colorados — 25.22°S, 66.03°WJudith River — 47.70°N, 110.70°WJudith River — 47.81°N, 109.59°WSalla — 17.18°S, 67.63°WOjo Alamo — 36.24°N, 108.89°WSalamanca — 45.50°S, 67.18°WUquía — 23.24°S, 65.36°WUquía — 26.24°S, 65.37°WCollón Cura — 42.65°S, 69.70°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Polydolopimorphia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 20 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 40 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Polydolopimorphia and its relatives

Eocene

Where Polydolopimorphia and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,482 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 126 sites for Polydolopimorphia, 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

90 references

Each of the 248 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. 78 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 Polydolopimorphia

Credit
Nobu Tamura (nobu.tamura@yahoo.com)
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Polydolopimorphia was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itMarsupialiformes through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Archer 1984)