Amynodontidae

Amynodontidae is an extinct family of rhinocerotoids, known from the Eocene to Oligocene of North America, Europe, and Asia. They were among the dominant groups of herbivorous mammals in the Northern Hemisphere, and were most diverse in Asia. Most amynodonts had a somewhat hippopotamus-like build, with massive bodies, short and robust limbs, and tusk-like canine teeth. They have been nicknamed swamp rhinoceroses due to historically being interpreted as semiaquatic; modern research suggests that only some members of the group had semiaquatic lifestyles.

Amynodontidae

PrimalMustelid · CC0 · 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
RhinocerotoideaPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 44 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 774 ka.

Paleocene — about 0 of 246 occurrencesEocene — about 207 of 246 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 38 of 246 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 246 occurrencesPliocene — about 0 of 246 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 246 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 2 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 2 occurrences51–49 Mya — about 2 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 4 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 11 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 28 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 28 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 37 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 38 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 28 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 22 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 14 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 8 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 6 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 6 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 4 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences48.07 Mya3.6 Mya57 Mya0 Mya

246 occurrences of Amynodontidae 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

246 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

59 formations

Pondaung — 21.75°N, 94.70°EPondaung — 21.62°N, 94.85°EPondaung — 21.67°N, 94.83°EPondaung — 21.72°N, 94.68°EPondaung — 21.95°N, 94.57°EPondaung — 21.95°N, 94.50°EPondaung — 21.90°N, 94.57°EPondaung — 21.92°N, 94.53°EPondaung — 21.50°N, 94.50°EPondaung — 21.84°N, 94.54°ESantiago — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSantiago — 33.40°N, 117.51°WSantiago — 33.19°N, 117.32°WUinta — 40.07°N, 109.28°WUinta — 40.17°N, 109.93°WUinta — 40.07°N, 109.70°WDevil's Graveyard — 29.20°N, 103.20°WDevil's Graveyard — 29.90°N, 104.20°WTepee Trail — 43.70°N, 108.70°WTepee Trail — 43.20°N, 108.20°WShara Murum — 42.04°N, 111.53°EShara Murum — 42.63°N, 111.35°EErgilin Dzo — 43.75°N, 111.92°EErgilin Dzo — 43.40°N, 109.10°EErgilin Dzo — 43.73°N, 111.25°EErgilin Dzo — 43.37°N, 108.66°EErgilin Dzo — 43.33°N, 109.13°EErgilin Dzo — 43.73°N, 111.21°ESespe — 34.30°N, 119.00°WHeti — 35.30°N, 111.66°EHeti — 35.09°N, 111.86°EHedi — 34.80°N, 111.91°EHedi — 35.03°N, 111.80°EBailuyuan — 34.26°N, 108.94°EBailuyuan — 34.50°N, 109.50°ECaijiachong — 25.39°N, 103.95°EChaganbulage — 38.83°N, 105.67°ELumeiyi — 24.76°N, 103.33°EHouldjin — 42.00°N, 112.00°EHouldjin — 43.65°N, 111.98°EWagon Bed ("Tepee Trail") — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWashakie — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWashakie — 41.29°N, 108.47°WNiezhuang — 34.09°N, 112.58°ENiezhuang — 35.07°N, 112.60°EWulidun — 32.37°N, 113.40°EWagon Bed — 43.20°N, 108.20°WColmena Tuff — 29.90°N, 104.20°WSlim Buttes — 45.62°N, 103.93°WBrule — 46.90°N, 102.80°WBrule — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBrule — 43.85°N, 102.50°WUlan Gocho — 42.63°N, 111.35°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Amynodontidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 35 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 35 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Amynodontidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Amynodontidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,084 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 199 sites for Amynodontidae, 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

92 references

Each of the 246 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. 80 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 Amynodontidae

Credit
PrimalMustelid
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Amynodontidae 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 itRhinocerotoidea through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Scott and Osborn 1883)