Aetobatus

Aetobatus is a genus of eagle rays native to the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. It was formerly placed in Myliobatidae, but is now placed in its own family Aetobatidae based on salient differences from myliobatids, especially the pectoral fins joining the head at the level of the eyes.

Aetobatus

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
AetobatidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Myliobatiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Myliobatiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Myliobatiformes

Time the record covers

At least 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 199 occurrencesPaleocene — about 2 of 199 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 73 of 199 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 10 of 199 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 100 of 199 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 8 of 199 occurrencesPleistocene — about 6 of 199 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 1 occurrence56–54 Mya — about 4 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 4 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 4 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 6 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 10 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 10 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 9 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 8 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 10 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 9 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 2 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 2 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 3 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 3 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 4 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 10 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 11 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 19 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 24 occurrences11–9.0 Mya — about 10 occurrences9.0–6.7 Mya — about 12 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 12 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 6 occurrences56 Mya129 ka67 Mya0 Mya

199 occurrences of Aetobatus 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

199 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

86 formations

Calvert — 38.54°N, 76.73°WCalvert — 38.40°N, 76.50°WCalvert — 38.17°N, 76.81°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WQasr el-Sagha — 29.60°N, 30.67°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.32°N, 30.05°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.29°N, 29.99°EUrumaco — 11.21°N, 70.25°WUrumaco — 11.24°N, 70.25°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.80°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.84°WOsinovaya — 48.38°N, 41.93°EOsinovaya — 48.36°N, 41.85°EOsinovaya — 48.46°N, 41.83°EOsinovaya — 48.38°N, 41.72°EMalembo — 5.34°S, 12.18°EMalembo — 5.36°S, 12.18°ENanjemoy — 38.40°N, 76.99°WNanjemoy — 38.28°N, 77.37°WBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.06°EBirket Qarun — 29.28°N, 30.03°EEsbarrondadoiro — 38.17°N, 8.17°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.11°N, 8.36°WEsbarrondadoiro — 39.30°N, 8.12°WBerchem — 51.20°N, 4.44°ECantaure — 11.94°N, 70.02°WElmore — 50.80°N, 1.20°WMoodys Branch — 32.23°N, 92.15°WMoodys Branch — 32.90°N, 90.19°WAquia — 38.50°N, 77.59°WSamlat — 23.36°N, 16.03°WSocorro — 11.38°N, 69.72°WSocorro — 11.21°N, 70.14°WLondon Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°ELondon Clay — 51.07°N, 1.74°WChucunaque — 9.15°N, 78.79°WChucunaque — 9.14°N, 78.75°WTallahatta — 31.79°N, 88.32°WTallahatta — 31.37°N, 86.52°WGosport Sand — 31.53°N, 87.57°WGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 88.50°WLandana — 5.22°S, 12.14°ELisbon — 31.36°N, 86.52°WKortrijk Clay — 50.80°N, 3.22°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Aetobatus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 62 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 50 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Aetobatus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Aetobatus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

2,828 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 173 sites for Aetobatus, 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

111 references

Each of the 199 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. 99 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 Aetobatus

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

No 3D scan of Aetobatus was found in Sketchfab.

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 itAetobatidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Blainville 1816