Xenorophidae

Xenorophidae is an extinct family of dolphin-like odontocetes that lived in the Southeastern United States during the Oligocene. They were among the first major groups of odontocetes to diversify in the fossil record and are notable for their ability to echolocate.

Xenorophidae

Uncredited · 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
OdontocetiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Odontoceti
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marine,freshwaterPBDB, for Odontoceti

Time the record covers

At most 29 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 33.9 Mya and 5.333 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Eocene — about 0 of 29 occurrencesOligocene — about 24 of 29 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 5 of 29 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 29 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 2 occurrences32–32 Mya — about 2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 2 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 3 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 3 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 3 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 3 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–9.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.7–8.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.7–7.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.7–6.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.7–5.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.8–4.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34.5 Mya4.8 Mya

29 occurrences of Xenorophidae on record, most of them in the Oligocene. 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

29 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

4 formations

Ashley — 32.96°N, 80.09°WAshley — 32.87°N, 80.06°WAshley — 32.92°N, 79.82°WAshley — 33.03°N, 80.27°WAshley — 33.83°N, 79.88°WAshley — 32.84°N, 80.07°WChandler Bridge — 32.96°N, 80.15°WChandler Bridge — 32.85°N, 79.97°WChandler Bridge — 32.93°N, 80.40°WChandler Bridge — 32.97°N, 80.15°WBelgrade — 34.57°N, 77.27°WBelgrade — 34.89°N, 77.23°WTiger Leap — 32.79°N, 79.95°W

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The named rock units Xenorophidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Xenorophidae and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Xenorophidae and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

110 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 21 sites for Xenorophidae, 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

16 references

Each of the 29 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. 4 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 content2

Picture of Xenorophidae

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itOdontoceti through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Uhen 2008