Xiphiorhynchus

Xiphiorhynchus is an extinct genus of prehistoric swordfish that lived from the Eocene until the Miocene. Unlike the modern swordfish, both the upper and lower jaws of Xiphiorhynchus were extended into blade-like points. The largest member of this genus, Xiphiorhynchus rotundus, was at least 5.1 meters in length and had an estimate weight of 708 kilograms, making it larger than any record extant billfish, and largest billfish ever known.

Xiphiorhynchus

Ghedoghedo · 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
Sits inside
XiphiorhynchinaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 40 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 7.246 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 5.333 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 17 occurrencesEocene — about 10 of 17 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 4 of 17 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 3 of 17 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 17 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences43–41 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 1 occurrence39–38 Mya — about 2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 1 occurrence36–34 Mya — about 1 occurrence34–32 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–9.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.8–6.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.1–4.3 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences48.07 Mya7.246 Mya57 Mya4 Mya

17 occurrences of Xiphiorhynchus on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

17 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

12 formations

Chandler Bridge — 32.98°N, 80.18°WChandler Bridge — 32.96°N, 80.13°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WLondon Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°ERed Bluff Clay — 31.37°N, 87.48°WElmore — 50.80°N, 1.20°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WCastle Hayne — 35.01°N, 77.57°WPisco — 15.56°S, 74.69°WMoodys Branch — 32.90°N, 90.19°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.60°WRaz-el-Ain — 35.71°N, 0.64°WTupelo Bay — 33.24°N, 80.44°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Xiphiorhynchus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Xiphiorhynchus and its relatives

Eocene

Where Xiphiorhynchus and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

520 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 14 sites for Xiphiorhynchus, 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

15 references

Each of the 17 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. 3 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 Xiphiorhynchus

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

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 itXiphiorhynchinae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Van Beneden 1871