Anatidae

The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating on the water surface, and, in some cases, diving in at least shallow water. The family contains around 174 species in 43 genera.

Anatidae

MathKnight · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
AnseriformesPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Anseriformes
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Anseriformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

Time the record covers

At least 39 million years on record.

The record covers at least 39.7 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 45.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 3 of 1731 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 16 of 1731 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 130 of 1731 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 71 of 1731 occurrencesPleistocene — about 905 of 1731 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 1 occurrence33–31 Mya — about 1 occurrence31–30 Mya — about 1 occurrence30–28 Mya — about 2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 3 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 3 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 3 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 4 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 4 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 3 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 14 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 16 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 13 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 17 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 19 occurrences11–9.4 Mya — about 15 occurrences9.4–7.8 Mya — about 10 occurrences7.8–6.2 Mya — about 11 occurrences6.2–4.7 Mya — about 22 occurrences4.7–3.1 Mya — about 42 occurrences3.1–1.6 Mya — about 84 occurrences1.6–0 Mya — about 1440 occurrences39.7 Mya11.7 ka46.8 Mya0 Mya

1,731 occurrences of Anatidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

1,731 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

96 formations

Yorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WTamiami — 27.34°N, 82.51°WTamiami — 27.78°N, 82.68°WTamiami — 27.37°N, 82.45°WBannockburn — 44.91°S, 169.86°EBannockburn — 44.89°S, 169.84°EBannockburn — 44.88°S, 169.75°EGabal Silsila — 24.77°N, 32.95°EGabal Silsila — 24.43°N, 32.95°ESan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WSan Pedro — 34.03°N, 118.53°WHillgrove — 45.13°S, 170.97°EBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WGebel Silsila-YCS — 24.50°N, 33.00°EPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.80°WPalos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WTemblor — 35.46°N, 118.92°WTemblor — 36.54°N, 120.55°WTemblor — 35.30°N, 118.50°WOshin — 43.47°N, 100.45°EOkeechobee — 27.53°N, 80.47°WCromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.27°ECromer Forest Bed — 51.64°N, 0.80°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.88°N, 1.44°EHagerman — 42.81°N, 114.95°WHagerman — 42.79°N, 114.95°WManix — 34.80°N, 117.00°WJuntura — 43.60°N, 117.50°WPampean — 38.20°S, 59.12°WTurlock Lake — 37.06°N, 120.20°WNamba — 31.17°S, 140.23°ENamba — 31.02°S, 140.32°EAmerican Falls Lake Bed E — 42.80°N, 112.90°WBecerra — 19.90°N, 99.13°WWicomico — 29.60°N, 82.42°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WCalvert — 38.50°N, 76.51°WAllingham — 19.72°S, 145.60°E

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The named rock units Anatidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 72 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1,401 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Anatidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Anatidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

4,149 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 606 sites for Anatidae, and this reads 240 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

359 references

Each of the 1,731 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. 347 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 Anatidae

Credit
MathKnight
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

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 itAnseriformes through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Vigors 1825