Ptychocheilus

Ptychocheilus, the pikeminnows or squawfish, is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, chubs, Eurasian minnows, and related species. These fishes are native to western North America. Voracious predators, they are considered an "undesirable" species in many waters, largely due to the species' perceived tendency to prey upon small trout and salmon. First known in western science by the common name Columbia River dace, the four species all became lumped under the name "squawfish". In 1999, the American Fisheries Society adopted "pikeminnow" as the name it recommends, because Native Americans consider "squawfish" offensive.

Ptychocheilus

J. E. Johnson/U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service · Public Domain · via Wikidata/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
CyprinidaePBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Cypriniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Cypriniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cypriniformes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Cypriniformes

Time the record covers

At least 3.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 0 of 9 occurrencesPliocene — about 6 of 9 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 3 of 9 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 9 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.6 Mya129 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

9 occurrences of Ptychocheilus on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

9 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

Alturas — 41.49°N, 120.65°W

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The named rock units Ptychocheilus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ptychocheilus and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Ptychocheilus and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

131 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 9 sites for Ptychocheilus, 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

4 references

Each of the 9 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. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Ptychocheilus

Credit
J. E. Johnson/U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Ptychocheilus grandis · INHS:FISH:106930

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itCyprinidae through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Agassiz 1855