Anomaluridae

The Anomaluridae are a family of rodents found in central Africa. They are known as anomalures or scaly-tailed squirrels or African flying squirrels. The six extant species are classified into two genera: Anomalurus, and the smaller, Idiurus.

Anomaluridae

Joseph Wolf · 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
scaly-tailed squirrelPBDB
Sits inside
AnomaluromorphiPBDB
Diet
browser, frugivorePBDB
Life habit
arborealPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 30 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 7.246 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Eocene — about 6 of 21 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 7 of 21 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 7 of 21 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 21 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 21 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 2 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 1 occurrence32–31 Mya — about 1 occurrence31–30 Mya — about 1 occurrence30–28 Mya — about 1 occurrence28–27 Mya — about 1 occurrence27–26 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 1 occurrence19–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–14 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences8.5–7.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.1–5.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.8–4.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.5–3.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.1–1.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37.71 Mya7.246 Mya41.8 Mya1.8 Mya

21 occurrences of Anomaluridae on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

21 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

11 formations

Legetet — 0.18°S, 35.27°EPondaung — 21.74°N, 94.64°EPondaung — 21.75°N, 94.65°ESamlat — 23.54°N, 15.93°WSamlat — 23.49°N, 15.95°WTiim — 0.84°N, 35.82°ELothagam 1 — 2.88°N, 36.07°EUpper Koru Series — 0.23°S, 35.34°EMuhroni Agglomerates — 0.14°S, 35.21°EBirket Qarun — 29.60°N, 30.60°EAshawq — 17.06°N, 54.42°EAshawaq — 17.00°N, 53.00°ETopernawi — 3.85°N, 35.65°E

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The named rock units Anomaluridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Anomaluridae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Anomaluridae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

323 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 19 sites for Anomaluridae, 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

13 references

Each of the 21 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. 1 further reference is 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 Anomaluridae

Credit
Joseph Wolf
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itAnomaluromorphi through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gill 1872