Sigmodontinae

Sigmodontinae is a subfamily of rodents that includes New World rats and mice, with at least 376 species. Their distribution includes much of the New World, but the genera are predominantly South American, such as brucies. They invaded South America from Central America as part of the Great American Interchange near the end of the Miocene, about 5 million years ago. Sigmodontines proceeded to diversify explosively in the formerly isolated continent. They inhabit many of the same ecological niches that the Murinae occupy in the Old World.

Sigmodontinae

James Gathany · 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
CricetidaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Rodentia
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Rodentia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 9.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 9.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 12.5 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 25 of 563 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 125 of 563 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 331 of 563 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 81 of 563 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences10–10.0 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences10.0–9.5 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences9.5–9.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.1–8.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.7–8.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.2–7.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.8–7.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.4–6.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.1–5.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.6–5.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.2–4.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences4.8–4.3 Mya — about 18 occurrences4.3–3.9 Mya — about 20 occurrences3.9–3.5 Mya — about 23 occurrences3.5–3.0 Mya — about 29 occurrences3.0–2.6 Mya — about 30 occurrences2.6–2.2 Mya — about 27 occurrences2.2–1.7 Mya — about 27 occurrences1.7–1.3 Mya — about 26 occurrences1.3–867 ka Mya — about 30 occurrences867 ka–433 ka Mya — about 33 occurrences433 ka–0 Mya — about 271 occurrences9.4 Mya11.7 ka13 Mya0 Mya

563 occurrences of Sigmodontinae 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

563 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

63 formations

Palm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°W"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WSt. David — 32.00°N, 110.20°WSt. David — 31.97°N, 110.30°WBotucatu — 29.56°S, 51.40°WTafí del Valle — 26.92°S, 65.70°WSan Andres — 38.20°S, 57.70°WSan Andres — 38.12°S, 57.70°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WVerde — 34.50°N, 112.50°WVerde — 34.77°N, 111.85°WVerde — 34.77°N, 112.05°WSan Timoteo — 33.90°N, 117.00°WNuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WNuapua — 20.87°S, 63.07°WLujan — 34.60°S, 59.15°WLujan — 38.75°S, 60.60°WMonte Hermoso — 38.97°S, 61.70°WUquía — 23.24°S, 65.36°WGila Conglomerate — 32.84°N, 110.00°WGila Conglomerate — 32.58°N, 109.48°WGila Conglomerate — 32.90°N, 109.10°WGila Conglomerate — 32.70°N, 109.10°WGila Conglomerate — 32.69°N, 109.45°WTarija — 21.53°S, 64.73°WTarija — 21.50°S, 64.75°WVorohué — 38.23°S, 57.73°WVorohué — 38.12°S, 57.70°WSopas — 30.43°S, 56.45°WSopas — 32.05°S, 56.12°WBrochero — 31.79°S, 65.02°WBrochero — 32.69°S, 64.72°WDove Spring — 35.40°N, 118.01°WDove Spring — 35.30°N, 118.50°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.20°N, 100.70°WTemecula Arkose — 33.90°N, 117.00°WBlanco — 33.70°N, 101.10°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WWicomico — 29.60°N, 82.42°WWicomico — 29.42°N, 82.22°W

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The named rock units Sigmodontinae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 39 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 303 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Sigmodontinae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Sigmodontinae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

2,184 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 298 sites for Sigmodontinae, 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

176 references

Each of the 563 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. 164 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 Sigmodontinae

Credit
James Gathany
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Sigmodontinae 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 itCricetidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Wagner 1843