Tapiroidea

Tapiroidea is a superfamily of perissodactyls which includes the living tapirs and their extinct relatives. Tapiroids represent one of the oldest living lineages of large mammals. Their closest living relatives are rhinoceroses; the ancestral lineages of tapirs and rhinoceroses split from each other approximately 51–47 million years ago. Once a large group encompassing several families, tapiroids are today represented only by the four living species of the genus Tapirus. All living species are listed as endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

Tapiroidea

No machine-readable author provided. Sasha Kopf assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY 2.5 · 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
CeratomorphaPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 51 million years on record.

The record covers at least 51.1 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 743 occurrencesEocene — about 316 of 743 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 53 of 743 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 99 of 743 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 44 of 743 occurrencesPleistocene — about 222 of 743 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 19 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 47 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 47 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 25 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 22 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 24 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 24 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 24 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 25 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 22 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 18 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 16 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 18 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 11 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 6 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 6 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 7 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 10 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 9 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 9 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 11 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 10 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 9 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 11 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 14 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 12 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 11 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 19 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 56 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 201 occurrences51.1 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

743 occurrences of Tapiroidea on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

743 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

157 formations

Willwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.86°WWillwood — 44.42°N, 108.69°WWillwood — 44.49°N, 108.81°WWillwood — 44.41°N, 108.79°WWillwood — 44.48°N, 108.71°WWind River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.33°WWasatch — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 107.00°WWasatch — 42.70°N, 110.10°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 110.70°WWasatch — 41.20°N, 110.50°WWasatch — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWasatch — 42.37°N, 108.91°WWasatch — 41.86°N, 110.75°WWasatch — 41.83°N, 110.75°WDeBeque — 40.00°N, 107.90°WDeBeque — 39.70°N, 107.60°WDeBeque — 39.20°N, 108.20°WBrule — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBrule — 43.90°N, 102.40°WBrule — 43.85°N, 102.50°WBrule — 42.40°N, 103.80°WBrule — 43.62°N, 102.67°WBridger — 41.70°N, 109.00°WBridger — 42.70°N, 110.10°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WBridger — 41.80°N, 110.70°WBridger — 41.77°N, 110.33°WBridger — 42.37°N, 108.91°WBridger — 41.37°N, 109.82°WWagon Bed ("Tepee Trail") — 43.20°N, 107.10°WFriars — 32.90°N, 117.10°WAsh Hollow — 40.50°N, 100.50°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WAsh Hollow — 43.40°N, 100.60°WAsh Hollow — 42.63°N, 100.05°WAsh Hollow — 42.70°N, 102.50°WAsh Hollow — 41.40°N, 102.40°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 40.10°N, 98.50°WErgilin Dzo — 44.00°N, 111.00°EErgilin Dzo — 43.40°N, 109.10°EErgilin Dzo — 43.75°N, 111.92°EPeace River — 27.50°N, 82.50°WPeace River — 27.68°N, 81.95°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WPondaung — 21.77°N, 94.65°EPondaung — 21.76°N, 94.64°EPondaung — 21.71°N, 94.81°EPondaung — 21.72°N, 94.68°EPondaung — 22.03°N, 94.50°EDell Beds — 45.00°N, 112.80°WUinta — 40.15°N, 109.62°WUinta — 40.08°N, 109.27°WUinta — 40.20°N, 109.90°WPalm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WBermont — 28.80°N, 82.20°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WHedi — 34.80°N, 111.91°EHedi — 35.03°N, 111.80°EWashakie — 40.60°N, 108.10°WWashakie — 41.70°N, 109.00°WSantiago — 33.13°N, 117.29°WSantiago — 33.19°N, 117.32°WCypress Hills — 50.20°N, 107.60°WCypress Hills — 50.00°N, 107.90°WCypress Hills — 49.57°N, 109.88°WWiggins — 43.70°N, 108.70°WChambers Tuff — 29.90°N, 104.20°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 120.20°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 121.30°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Tapiroidea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 133 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 297 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tapiroidea and its relatives

Eocene

Where Tapiroidea and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

2,137 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 659 sites for Tapiroidea, 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

341 references

Each of the 743 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. 329 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 Tapiroidea

Credit
No machine-readable author provided. Sasha Kopf assumed (based on copyright claims).
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Tapiroidea 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 itCeratomorpha through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gill 1872