Rodentia

Rodents are a group of mammals belonging to the order Rodentia characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. Rodents make up about 40% of all mammal species. Rodents are native to all major landmasses except Antarctica and a handful of isolated oceanic islands — though humans have since introduced them to nearly all of these places too. Most rodents are small animals with robust bodies, short limbs, and long tails. They use their sharp incisors to gnaw food, excavate burrows, and defend themselves. Most eat plant material, but some have more varied diets.

Rodentia

Wilfredor · CC0 · 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
rodentPBDB
Sits inside
SimplicidentataPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 57.5 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 41 of 12000 occurrencesEocene — about 1816 of 12000 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 913 of 12000 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 3009 of 12000 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1730 of 12000 occurrencesPleistocene — about 4273 of 12000 occurrences59–57 Mya — about 22 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 113 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 146 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 147 occurrences51–49 Mya — about 150 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 152 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 150 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 145 occurrences43–41 Mya — about 145 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 135 occurrences39–37 Mya — about 119 occurrences37–35 Mya — about 257 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 276 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 249 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 114 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 124 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 139 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 153 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 118 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 141 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 245 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 395 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 545 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 411 occurrences12–9.8 Mya — about 333 occurrences9.8–7.8 Mya — about 356 occurrences7.8–5.9 Mya — about 394 occurrences5.9–3.9 Mya — about 811 occurrences3.9–2.0 Mya — about 1739 occurrences2.0–0 Mya — about 3777 occurrences56 Mya11.7 ka59 Mya0 Mya

12,000+ occurrences of Rodentia on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

12,000 occurrences read

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. The read hit its cap, so every figure above is a floor and the shares are of the occurrences read. More on what this infers.

Found in

at least 368 formations

Brule — 42.90°N, 105.20°WBrule — 43.90°N, 102.40°WBrule — 42.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 40.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBrule — 46.90°N, 102.80°WBrule — 42.40°N, 103.80°WBrule — 43.20°N, 103.20°WBrule — 41.80°N, 103.80°WBrule — 43.85°N, 102.50°WBrule — 43.71°N, 102.58°WBrule — 46.40°N, 103.30°WBrule — 43.50°N, 101.90°WBrule — 41.70°N, 103.10°WBrule — 42.00°N, 104.20°WBrule — 41.50°N, 103.80°W"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WPalm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WBarstow — 34.80°N, 117.00°WBridger — 42.70°N, 110.10°WBridger — 41.70°N, 109.00°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WBridger — 42.42°N, 109.35°WBridger — 41.80°N, 110.70°WBridger — 41.77°N, 110.33°WBridger — 41.13°N, 110.13°WBridger — 42.37°N, 108.91°WAlfambra — 40.37°N, 2.59°WAlfambra — 40.50°N, 2.66°WAlfambra — 40.38°N, 2.54°WAlfambra — 40.59°N, 2.69°WAlfambra — 40.35°N, 2.60°WAlfambra — 40.50°N, 1.02°WValentine — 42.70°N, 100.00°WValentine — 42.49°N, 98.11°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 42.80°N, 99.70°WValentine — 42.81°N, 100.05°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 40.10°N, 98.50°WValentine — 42.90°N, 98.80°WValentine — 43.20°N, 99.80°WValentine — 42.60°N, 98.00°WFriars — 32.90°N, 117.10°WFriars — 32.78°N, 117.07°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.63°N, 108.50°WWillwood — 44.77°N, 109.08°WWillwood — 43.95°N, 107.57°WGlenns Ferry — 43.60°N, 116.80°WGlenns Ferry — 42.82°N, 114.94°WGlenns Ferry — 43.00°N, 118.00°WGlenns Ferry — 43.00°N, 115.70°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 — 49.70°N, 109.00°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 108.80°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 109.00°WSharps — 43.30°N, 102.50°WSharps — 43.50°N, 101.90°WChadron — 43.60°N, 102.45°WChadron — 42.40°N, 103.80°WChadron — 42.80°N, 103.40°WChadron — 42.90°N, 105.20°WChadron — 45.47°N, 112.62°WChadron — 46.10°N, 103.30°WChadron — 43.30°N, 102.50°WChadron — 42.00°N, 104.20°WAsh Hollow — 42.70°N, 100.00°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 99.70°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WAsh Hollow — 42.39°N, 98.10°WAsh Hollow — 40.50°N, 100.50°WAsh Hollow — 42.60°N, 98.00°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 101.89°WAsh Hollow — 43.40°N, 100.60°WAsh Hollow — 41.20°N, 101.80°WAsh Hollow — 41.40°N, 102.40°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WAsh Hollow — 41.10°N, 103.00°WAsh Hollow — 42.63°N, 100.05°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 105.10°WWasatch — 41.27°N, 110.33°WWasatch — 40.60°N, 108.10°WWasatch — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWasatch — 42.70°N, 110.10°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 107.00°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 110.70°WWasatch — 41.20°N, 110.50°WWasatch — 42.07°N, 109.10°WWasatch — 41.75°N, 108.00°WWasatch — 42.37°N, 108.91°WKingsdown — 37.05°N, 100.50°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WVogel River Series — 3.23°S, 35.23°EVogel River Series — 3.26°S, 35.18°EVogel River Series — 3.01°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°ESan Timoteo — 33.90°N, 117.00°WRenova — 45.00°N, 112.80°WRenova — 46.00°N, 112.00°WRenova — 45.90°N, 112.25°WRenova — 46.40°N, 112.80°WRenova — 46.65°N, 113.05°WRenova — 45.20°N, 112.00°WSt. David — 32.00°N, 110.20°WSt. David — 31.97°N, 110.30°WRexroad — 37.10°N, 100.90°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WRexroad — 37.13°N, 100.48°WSespe — 34.30°N, 119.00°WSespe — 34.58°N, 119.26°WArikaree — 41.70°N, 103.10°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 107.10°WArikaree — 45.80°N, 104.40°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWind River — 44.00°N, 106.60°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWind River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.33°W

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The named rock units Rodentia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. The read hit its cap, so each count is a floor. 344 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 5,478 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

1,183 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 715 sites for Rodentia, and this reads 240 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

at least 1,151 references

Each of the 12,000 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. That read hit its cap, so each count is a floor. 1,139 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 Rodentia

Credit
Wilfredor
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

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 itSimplicidentata through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Bowdich 1821)