Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis

Toyotamaphimeia is a genus of extinct gavialid crocodylian which lived in Japan and Taiwan during the Middle Pleistocene. A specimen recovered in 1964 at Osaka University during the construction of a new science building has been dated to around 430–380 thousand years old based on the stratum in which it was found. Toyotamaphimeia was a fairly large crocodylian measuring approximately 6.3–7.3 metres (21–24 ft) long. Two species are named, T. machikanensis from Japan and T. taiwanicus from Taiwan, both originally described as members of the genus Tomistoma.

Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis

Pavel Bochkov from Moscow, Russia · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
ToyotamaphimeiaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Crocodylia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At most 645 thousand years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 774 ka and 129 ka, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Pleistocene — about 2 of 2 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 2 occurrences807 ka–764 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences764 ka–722 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences722 ka–679 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences679 ka–637 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences637 ka–595 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences595 ka–552 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences552 ka–510 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences510 ka–467 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences467 ka–425 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences425 ka–382 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences382 ka–340 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences340 ka–297 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences297 ka–255 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences255 ka–212 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences212 ka–170 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences170 ka–127 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.27 Mya0 Mya

2 occurrences of Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

2 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

2 formations

Ibaraki — 34.82°N, 135.53°ESenpoku — 34.44°N, 135.39°E

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The named rock units Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

No other named taxon is catalogued from any of those sites.

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis, and this reads all of them.

Entered from

2 references

Each of the 2 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis

Credit
Pavel Bochkov from Moscow, Russia
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis 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 itToyotamaphimeia through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Kobatake et al. 1965)