Tapirus polkensis

Tapirus polkensis, the pygmy tapir, is a small prehistoric tapir that lived in North America during the late Miocene and early Pliocene. T. polkensis had an estimated mass of around 125 kg (276 lb), making it smaller than any extant tapir.

Tapirus polkensis

Zilantophis · CC BY-SA 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 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 12.5 Mya to 1.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 16.3 Mya to 210 ka.

Miocene — about 9 of 12 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 12 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 1 of 12 occurrencesPleistocene17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.5–9.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences9.0–8.4 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences8.4–7.8 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences7.8–7.3 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences7.3–6.7 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences6.7–6.2 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences6.2–5.6 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences5.6–5.0 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences5.0–4.5 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences4.5–3.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.9–3.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.4–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.2–1.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.7–1.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.1–560 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences560 ka–0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences12.5 Mya1.4 Mya16.8 Mya0 Mya

12 occurrences of Tapirus polkensis on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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 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

3 formations

Peace River — 27.68°N, 81.95°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WBone Valley — 27.90°N, 81.80°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Tapirus polkensis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tapirus polkensis and its relatives

Miocene

Where Tapirus polkensis and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

254 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Tapirus polkensis, 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

5 references

Each of the 12 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 polkensis

Credit
Zilantophis
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Tapirus polkensis 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 itTapirus through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Olsen 1960)