Protoceratidae

Protoceratidae is an extinct family of herbivorous North American artiodactyls that lived during the Eocene through Pliocene. While early members of the group were hornless, in later members males developed elaborate cranial ornamentation. They are variously allied with Ruminantia or Tylopoda.

Protoceratidae

Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com ) · CC BY 3.0 · 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
protoceratidPBDB
Sits inside
RuminantiamorphaPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 36 million years on record.

The record covers at least 39.7 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 45.9 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Eocene — about 163 of 271 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 14 of 271 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 91 of 271 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 271 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 271 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 10 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 23 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 23 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 23 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 20 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 13 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 17 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 21 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 13 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 2 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 5 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 3 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 1 occurrence27–26 Mya — about 1 occurrence26–24 Mya — about 1 occurrence24–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 5 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 5 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 7 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 19 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 14 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 12 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 11 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 7 occurrences11–9.2 Mya — about 6 occurrences9.2–7.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.7–6.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.2–4.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.7–3.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.2–1.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences39.7 Mya3.6 Mya46.8 Mya1.7 Mya

271 occurrences of Protoceratidae 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

271 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

55 formations

Uinta — 40.20°N, 109.90°WUinta — 40.07°N, 109.28°WUinta — 40.15°N, 109.62°WSespe — 34.30°N, 119.00°WSespe — 33.83°N, 117.71°WFriars — 32.90°N, 117.10°WChadron — 43.60°N, 102.45°WChadron — 42.80°N, 103.10°WChadron — 42.80°N, 103.40°WChadron — 42.40°N, 103.80°WChadron — 42.90°N, 105.20°WChadron — 42.00°N, 104.20°WChadron — 43.30°N, 102.50°WFleming — 30.60°N, 95.20°WFleming — 30.72°N, 95.28°WFleming — 30.61°N, 95.13°WFleming — 31.10°N, 93.10°WFleming — 30.59°N, 94.91°WFleming — 30.50°N, 95.00°WFleming — 30.70°N, 94.70°WFleming — 31.00°N, 93.40°WFleming — 30.80°N, 94.30°WSantiago — 33.40°N, 117.51°WSantiago — 33.13°N, 117.29°WSantiago — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSantiago — 33.19°N, 117.32°WDevil's Graveyard — 29.20°N, 103.20°WDevil's Graveyard — 29.90°N, 104.20°WCypress Hills — 50.20°N, 107.60°WCypress Hills — 50.00°N, 107.90°WCypress Hills — 49.57°N, 109.88°WCypress Hills — 49.80°N, 109.00°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 108.80°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 109.00°WWagon Bed ("Tepee Trail") — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWagon Bed ("Tepee Trail") — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWhite River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWhite River — 40.97°N, 106.22°WOakville — 30.10°N, 96.10°WOakville — 30.75°N, 95.22°WOakville — 30.30°N, 95.70°WBrule — 42.90°N, 105.20°WBrule — 43.50°N, 101.90°WBrule — 46.40°N, 103.30°WBrule — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBrule — 43.90°N, 102.40°WGoliad — 28.60°N, 97.70°WGoliad — 28.34°N, 97.96°WGoliad — 28.53°N, 97.74°WCucaracha — 9.10°N, 79.70°WCucaracha — 9.05°N, 79.67°WCucaracha — 9.03°N, 79.64°WOlcott — 42.19°N, 103.73°WOlcott — 42.40°N, 103.80°WRenova — 46.00°N, 112.00°WRenova — 45.90°N, 112.25°WColmena Tuff — 29.90°N, 104.20°WLaredo — 27.53°N, 99.43°WChambers Tuff — 29.90°N, 104.20°WMarsland — 42.40°N, 103.80°WMarsland — 42.10°N, 105.00°WHarrison — 43.00°N, 104.50°WHarrison — 42.40°N, 103.80°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 40.10°N, 98.50°WAlachua — 29.65°N, 82.60°WAlachua — 29.70°N, 82.60°WDell Beds — 45.00°N, 112.80°W

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The named rock units Protoceratidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 31 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 33 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Protoceratidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Protoceratidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

2,151 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 224 sites for Protoceratidae, 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

101 references

Each of the 271 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. 88 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 Protoceratidae

Credit
Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com )
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Protoceratidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itRuminantiamorpha through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Marsh 1891