Rhinoptera

Rhinoptera is a genus of ray commonly known as the cownose rays. This genus is the only member of the family Rhinopteridae.

Rhinoptera

User:Atomische · 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
cownose rayPBDB
Sits inside
RhinopteridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Myliobatiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Myliobatiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Myliobatiformes

Time the record covers

At least 92 million years on record.

The record covers at least 93.9 Mya to 1.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 774 ka.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 219 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 4 of 219 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 10 of 219 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 95 of 219 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 13 of 219 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 84 of 219 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 10 of 219 occurrencesPleistocene — about 3 of 219 occurrences102–99 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences99–96 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences96–92 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences92–89 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences89–85 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–79 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences79–75 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences75–72 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences72–68 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 2 occurrences65–61 Mya — about 3 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 3 occurrences58–55 Mya — about 5 occurrences55–51 Mya — about 5 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 6 occurrences48–44 Mya — about 12 occurrences44–41 Mya — about 13 occurrences41–38 Mya — about 17 occurrences38–34 Mya — about 37 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 6 occurrences31–27 Mya — about 4 occurrences27–24 Mya — about 5 occurrences24–20 Mya — about 8 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 15 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 15 occurrences14–10 Mya — about 23 occurrences10–6.8 Mya — about 16 occurrences6.8–3.4 Mya — about 17 occurrences3.4–0 Mya — about 5 occurrences93.9 Mya1.8 Mya102 Mya0 Mya

219 occurrences of Rhinoptera on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

219 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

100 formations

Qasr el-Sagha — 29.32°N, 30.05°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.27°N, 30.01°EBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.01°EPirabas — 1.21°S, 47.16°WPirabas — 0.48°S, 48.17°WPirabas — 1.23°S, 47.34°WPirabas — 1.05°S, 47.16°WPirabas — 0.59°S, 47.32°WGehannam — 29.31°N, 30.18°EGehannam — 29.36°N, 30.16°EGehannam — 29.33°N, 30.08°EUrumaco — 11.25°N, 70.27°WUrumaco — 11.24°N, 70.25°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.80°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.84°WWeissenegg — 46.89°N, 15.51°EWeissenegg — 46.74°N, 15.56°EChucunaque — 9.13°N, 78.75°WChucunaque — 9.15°N, 78.79°WLisbon — 31.83°N, 88.31°WLisbon — 31.36°N, 86.52°WGosport Sand — 31.53°N, 87.57°WGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 87.80°WGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 88.50°WGosport Sand — 31.59°N, 88.02°WOsinovaya — 48.46°N, 41.83°EOsinovaya — 48.36°N, 41.85°EOsinovaya — 48.38°N, 41.93°ESelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WCastle Hayne — 35.01°N, 77.57°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.17°N, 8.17°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.11°N, 8.36°WEsbarrondadoiro — 39.30°N, 8.12°WDry Branch — 33.62°N, 81.68°WDry Branch — 33.50°N, 84.74°WDry Branch — 33.12°N, 81.70°WTallahatta — 31.31°N, 88.73°WTallahatta — 31.79°N, 88.32°WTallahatta — 31.37°N, 86.52°WCantaure — 11.94°N, 70.02°WAmeki — 5.00°N, 7.50°EAmeki — 5.56°N, 7.52°ECalvert — 38.40°N, 76.50°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WSamlat — 23.36°N, 16.03°WChandler Bridge — 33.03°N, 80.27°WChandler Bridge — 32.96°N, 80.13°WMidawara — 29.08°N, 30.12°ELa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.60°WLa Meseta — 64.23°S, 56.67°WSocorro — 11.38°N, 69.72°WSocorro — 11.21°N, 70.14°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Rhinoptera has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 76 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 34 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Rhinoptera and its relatives

Eocene

Where Rhinoptera and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

2,852 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 174 sites for Rhinoptera, and this reads all of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

113 references

Each of the 219 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. 101 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 content2

Picture of Rhinoptera

Credit
User:Atomische
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Rhinoptera bonasus · TCWC:Ichthyology:4403.01

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 itRhinopteridae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cuvier 1829