Ailanthus

Ailanthus is a genus of trees belonging to the family Simaroubaceae, in the order Sapindales. The genus is native from East Asia south to northern Australasia. One species, the tree of heaven, is considered a weed or invasive species in some parts of the world.

Ailanthus

Kurt Stüber [1] · 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
SimaroubaceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Angiospermae

Time the record covers

At least 51 million years on record.

The record covers at least 51.1 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 38 occurrencesEocene — about 10 of 38 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 8 of 38 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 16 of 38 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 38 occurrencesPleistocene — about 3 of 38 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 1 occurrence50–48 Mya — about 1 occurrence48–46 Mya — about 2 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 1 occurrence38–36 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 1 occurrence27–25 Mya — about 3 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 3 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–19 Mya — about 1 occurrence19–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.5–7.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.6–5.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.7–3.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 3 occurrences51.1 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

38 occurrences of Ailanthus 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

38 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

10 formations

Green River — 39.78°N, 107.87°WGreen River — 39.00°N, 110.00°WGreen River — 41.84°N, 109.35°WGreen River — 41.10°N, 109.30°WGreen River — 41.84°N, 110.70°WMotojuku — 36.25°N, 138.75°ERenova — 45.20°N, 112.16°WYousashan — 34.80°N, 91.00°EGuchengzi — 41.84°N, 123.90°EShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°EXiananshan — 29.15°N, 121.23°EXiaolongtan — 23.33°N, 104.28°EHuazhige — 23.02°N, 104.38°EJohn Day — 44.94°N, 120.40°W

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The named rock units Ailanthus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 24 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ailanthus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Ailanthus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

642 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 23 sites for Ailanthus, 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

18 references

Each of the 38 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. 6 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 Ailanthus

Credit
Kurt Stüber [1]
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itSimaroubaceae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Desfontaines 1786