Ammospermophilus

Antelope squirrels or antelope ground squirrels of the genus Ammospermophilus are sciurids found in the desert and dry scrub areas of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. They are a type of ground squirrel and are able to resist hyperthermia and can survive body temperatures over 40 °C (104 °F).

Ammospermophilus

Utahcamera at en.wikipedia · Public Domain · 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
antelope squirrelPBDB
Sits inside
MarmotiniPBDB
Diet
granivore, frugivorePBDB, for Sciuridae
Life habit
semifossorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 12 million years on record.

The record covers at least 12.5 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 16.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 13 of 22 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 22 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 4 of 22 occurrencesPleistocene17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–9.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.5–9.0 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.0–8.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.4–7.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.8–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–6.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.7–6.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.2–5.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.6–5.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.0–4.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.5–3.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.9–3.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.4–2.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.8–2.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.2–1.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.7–1.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.1–560 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences560 ka–0 Mya — about 5 occurrences12.5 Mya11.7 ka16.8 Mya0 Mya

22 occurrences of Ammospermophilus 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

22 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

7 formations

Juntura — 43.60°N, 117.50°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WAsh Hollow — 42.63°N, 100.05°WMR Caliente — 34.30°N, 119.00°WFleming — 31.10°N, 93.10°WAvawatz — 34.80°N, 117.00°WKern River — 35.30°N, 118.50°WRingold — 46.30°N, 119.10°W

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The named rock units Ammospermophilus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 8 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ammospermophilus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Ammospermophilus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

415 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 22 sites for Ammospermophilus, 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 22 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 content1

Picture of Ammospermophilus

Credit
Utahcamera at en.wikipedia
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Ammospermophilus 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 itMarmotini through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Merriam 1892