Protolabis

Protolabis is an extinct genus of camelid endemic to North America. It lived from the Early to Late Miocene 20.4—5.3 mya, existing for approximately 15 million years. Fossil distribution is widespread from Nicaragua, Central America to Montana and throughout the western U.S.

Protolabis

R. Bruce Horsfall · 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
Sits inside
ProtolabinaePBDB
Diet
browser, browserPBDB, for Camelidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Camelidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 9.1 million years on record.

The record covers at least 18.5 Mya to 9.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 29.5 Mya to 4.7 Mya.

Oligocene — about 1 of 89 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 88 of 89 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 89 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 5 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 8 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 7 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 5 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 5 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 5 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 5 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 8 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 9 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 9 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 9 occurrences9.4–8.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.5–7.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.6–6.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.8–5.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.9–5.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.1–4.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences18.5 Mya9.4 Mya30 Mya4.2 Mya

89 occurrences of Protolabis on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

89 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

24 formations

Milk Creek — 34.50°N, 112.50°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 42.80°N, 99.70°WValentine — 42.70°N, 100.00°WValentine — 42.81°N, 100.05°WValentine — 40.10°N, 98.50°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 107.10°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 108.20°WGoliad — 28.60°N, 97.70°WGoliad — 28.49°N, 97.67°WPopotosa — 34.80°N, 106.90°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WAsh Hollow — 43.40°N, 100.60°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WBopesta — 35.30°N, 118.50°WTesuque — 36.50°N, 107.00°WTesuque — 35.50°N, 106.20°WGracias — 14.60°N, 88.50°WEsmeralda — 38.25°N, 117.90°WEsmeralda — 37.96°N, 118.03°WBarstow — 34.80°N, 117.00°WZia Sand — 35.70°N, 107.00°WBranch Canyon — 34.90°N, 119.50°WHector — 34.80°N, 117.00°WPawnee Creek — 40.80°N, 104.20°WBox Butte — 42.20°N, 103.10°WSheep Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WEl Camarón — 16.55°N, 96.03°WBrowns Park — 40.60°N, 108.10°WTroublesome — 40.20°N, 106.10°WAvawatz — 34.80°N, 117.00°WZia — 35.70°N, 107.00°WCarpenter Ranch — 42.24°N, 104.08°WJohn Day — 44.70°N, 119.62°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Protolabis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 13 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Protolabis and its relatives

Miocene

Where Protolabis and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

563 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 82 sites for Protolabis, 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

38 references

Each of the 89 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. 26 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 Protolabis

Credit
R. Bruce Horsfall
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Protolabis 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 itProtolabinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1876