Thomomys

The smooth-toothed pocket gophers, genus Thomomys, are so called because they are among the only pocket gophers without grooves on their incisors. They are also called the western pocket gophers because they are distributed in western North America. They are considered distinct enough from other pocket gophers to be recognized as a separate subfamily or tribe.

Thomomys

National Park Service · 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
ThomomyiniPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB, for Geomyidae
Life habit
fossorialPBDB
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 6 of 170 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 19 of 170 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 136 of 170 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 9 of 170 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences10–10.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences10.0–9.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.5–9.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.1–8.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.7–8.2 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.2–7.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.8–7.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.4–6.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.1–5.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.6–5.2 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.2–4.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.8–4.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.3–3.9 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.9–3.5 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.5–3.0 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.0–2.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.6–2.2 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.2–1.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.7–1.3 Mya — about 10 occurrences1.3–867 ka Mya — about 31 occurrences867 ka–433 ka Mya — about 31 occurrences433 ka–0 Mya — about 65 occurrences9.4 Mya11.7 ka13 Mya0 Mya

170 occurrences of Thomomys 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

170 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

16 formations

"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WSan Timoteo — 33.90°N, 117.00°WPauba — 33.90°N, 117.00°WPalm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WDove Spring — 35.30°N, 118.50°WDove Spring — 35.37°N, 117.99°WRingold — 47.00°N, 118.50°WRingold — 46.30°N, 119.10°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.80°WPalos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WTemecula Arkose — 33.90°N, 117.00°WGlenns Ferry — 43.00°N, 118.00°WKern River — 35.30°N, 118.50°WSan Diego — 32.62°N, 117.00°WCrooked Creek — 37.20°N, 100.30°WTule — 34.50°N, 101.70°WTurlock Lake — 37.06°N, 120.20°WWicomico — 29.60°N, 82.42°WFloral — 52.20°N, 106.70°W

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The named rock units Thomomys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 93 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Thomomys and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Thomomys and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,012 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 162 sites for Thomomys, 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

75 references

Each of the 170 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. 63 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 content3

Picture of Thomomys

Credit
National Park Service
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Thomomys townsendii · nhmuk:zoo:8232028

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itThomomyini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Wied-Neuwied 1839