Tapirus arvernensis

Tapirus arvernensis is an extinct species of tapir that lived in Europe from the end of the Late Miocene until the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary. It was the last tapir species native to Europe. It is suggested to be closely related to the living Malayan tapir. It is uncertain whether T. arvernensis descends from/is related to earlier Tapirus species present in Europe, such as the Late Miocene Tapirus priscus, or whether it represents a separate migration from Asia. The latter has been argued to be more likely given the apparent absence of tapirs belonging to the genus Tapirus in Europe immediately before the appearance of T. arvernensis.

Tapirus arvernensis

Armin Reindl · 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
Sits inside
TapirusPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB, for Tapirus
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Tapirus
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 2.245 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 7.246 Mya to 1.8 Mya.

Miocene — about 1 of 26 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 20 of 26 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 5 of 26 occurrencesPleistocene7.3–7.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.1–6.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.9–6.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.7–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.2–6.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.0–5.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.8–5.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.6–5.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.4–5.2 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.2–5.0 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences5.0–4.7 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.9–3.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.7–3.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.4–3.2 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.2–3.0 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.0–2.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–2.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.2–1.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.9–1.7 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences5.333 Mya2.245 Mya7.7 Mya1.3 Mya

26 occurrences of Tapirus arvernensis on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

26 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

1 formation

facies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°E

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The named rock units Tapirus arvernensis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 25 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tapirus arvernensis and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Tapirus arvernensis and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

185 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 26 sites for Tapirus arvernensis, and this reads all 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

12 references

Each of the 26 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. 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 Tapirus arvernensis

Credit
Armin Reindl
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Tapirus arvernensis was found in Sketchfab.

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 itTapirus through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Croizet and Jobert 1828