Scolopacidae

Scolopacidae is a large family of shorebirds, or waders, which mainly includes many species known as sandpipers, but also others such as woodcocks, curlews, and snipes. Most of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil. There is no evidence that different lengths of bills enable multiple species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food. On sandy beaches, species with different bill lengths feed on the only abundant invertebrate, such as mole crabs Emerita.

Scolopacidae

lindalotjonen · CC BY 4.0 · 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
snipePBDB
Sits inside
CharadriiformesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Charadriiformes

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 3 of 507 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 507 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 15 of 507 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 12 of 507 occurrencesPleistocene — about 314 of 507 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 1 occurrence22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.8–8.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.4–7.0 Mya — about 3 occurrences7.0–5.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.6–4.2 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.2–2.8 Mya — about 6 occurrences2.8–1.4 Mya — about 15 occurrences1.4–0 Mya — about 461 occurrences37.71 Mya11.7 ka41.9 Mya0 Mya

507 occurrences of Scolopacidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

507 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

23 formations

Tamiami — 27.34°N, 82.51°WTamiami — 27.37°N, 82.45°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WIndusial Limestone — 46.26°N, 3.51°EPeace River — 27.74°N, 81.93°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WHillgrove — 45.13°S, 170.97°EWicomico — 29.60°N, 82.42°WManix — 34.80°N, 117.00°WGabal Silsila — 24.43°N, 32.95°EHofuf — 25.98°N, 49.39°ECypress Hills — 49.51°N, 108.83°WPisco — 15.55°S, 74.80°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.80°WMcKay — 45.50°N, 118.80°WCromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°EMonterey — 34.61°N, 120.44°WAlachua — 29.65°N, 82.60°WPampean — 38.20°S, 59.12°WBarton Beds — 50.74°N, 1.70°WBarton Clay — 50.74°N, 1.66°WWaite — 23.70°S, 133.88°EAllingham — 19.72°S, 145.60°ERexroad — 37.10°N, 100.90°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Scolopacidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 465 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Scolopacidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Scolopacidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

3,086 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 268 sites for Scolopacidae, and this reads 240 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

142 references

Each of the 507 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. 130 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 Scolopacidae

Credit
lindalotjonen
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
bcbirds
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 itCharadriiformes through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Rafinesque 1815