Viverridae

Viverridae is a family of small to medium-sized feliform mammals, comprising 14 genera with 33 species. This family was named and first described by John Edward Gray in 1821. Viverrids occur all over Africa, in southern Europe, and in South and Southeast Asia on both sides of the Wallace Line.

Viverridae

ParadoxurusHermaphroditusPhilippinensis01.jpg : Unknown author Unknown author Genetta_genetta_felina_(Wroclaw_zoo).JP… · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
Also called
civetPBDB
Sits inside
ViverroideaPBDB
Diet
carnivore, insectivorePBDB
Life habit
scansorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 48 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 219 occurrencesEocene — about 1 of 219 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 219 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 100 of 219 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 30 of 219 occurrencesPleistocene — about 65 of 219 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 3 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 8 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 10 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 14 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 11 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 13 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 10 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 11 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 17 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 18 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 30 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 73 occurrences48.07 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

219 occurrences of Viverridae on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

219 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

46 formations

Varswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.27°N, 36.29°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EUpper Koru Series — 0.23°S, 35.34°ENubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.33°ENawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°ELothidok — 3.33°N, 35.75°ELothidok — 3.22°N, 35.83°EElisabeth Bay — 26.96°S, 15.30°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.88°N, 36.07°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENachukui — 3.08°N, 35.83°ENachukui — 3.87°N, 35.71°EVogel River Series — 3.22°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°EOlorgesailie — 1.58°S, 36.43°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EWembere-Manonga — 4.03°S, 33.77°EWembere-Manonga — 3.98°S, 33.96°ENawata or Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EStudienka — 48.20°N, 17.98°EAdu-Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°ESahabi — 30.14°N, 20.75°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.66°N, 10.23°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.09°N, 10.03°Efacies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°ELukeino — 0.76°N, 35.88°ELothagam 1 — 2.88°N, 36.07°EHadar — 11.14°N, 40.58°E

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The named rock units Viverridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 22 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 124 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Viverridae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Viverridae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

2,377 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 156 sites for Viverridae, and this reads all of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

131 references

Each of the 219 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. 119 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 Viverridae

Credit
ParadoxurusHermaphroditusPhilippinensis01.jpg : Unknown author Unknown author Genetta_genetta_felina_(Wroclaw_zoo).JP…
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itViverroidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1821