Proserpinaca

Proserpinaca, commonly called mermaidweed, is a genus of flowering plants in the watermilfoil family (Haloragaceae). It is a small genus, comprising only two to three extant species, all of which are native to eastern North America and the West Indies. All species in this genus are found in aquatic or terrestrial wetland habitats.

A picture published with the record for Proserpinaca. What it shows has not been checked.

Mason Brock ( Masebrock ) · Public Domain · 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
mermaidweedPBDB
Sits inside
PlantaePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 19 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 36 occurrencesOligocene — about 9 of 36 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 20 of 36 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 7 of 36 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 36 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 1 occurrence23–21 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 4 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 4 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 1 occurrence11–9.6 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences9.6–8.5 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences8.5–7.4 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences7.4–6.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences6.3–5.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences5.2–4.1 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences4.1–3.0 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.0–2.0 Mya — about 3 occurrences23.04 Mya3.6 Mya34.5 Mya2 Mya

36 occurrences of Proserpinaca on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

36 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

1 formation

Odderup — 54.93°N, 10.27°E

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The named rock units Proserpinaca has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 35 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Proserpinaca and its relatives

Miocene

Where Proserpinaca and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

69 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Proserpinaca, 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

9 references

Each of the 36 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. 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 Proserpinaca

Credit
Mason Brock ( Masebrock )
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Proserpinaca 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 itPlantae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1753