Arvicanthis

Arvicanthis is a genus of rodent from Africa. They are found in abundance in a variety of open habitats. They are also diurnal.

Arvicanthis

Bodlina · CC BY 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
Also called
grass ratPBDB
Sits inside
MuridaePBDB
Diet
herbivore, insectivorePBDB, for Muridae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Muridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.09 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 4 of 26 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 26 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 15 of 26 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 6 of 26 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.4–4.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.2–2.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.4–2.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.6–1.2 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.2–809 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence404 ka–0 Mya — about 7 occurrences5.09 Mya11.7 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

26 occurrences of Arvicanthis 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

26 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

6 formations

Koobi Fora — 4.27°N, 36.29°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°EKomnina — 40.43°N, 21.80°EKomnina — 40.15°N, 21.94°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EShungura — 5.06°N, 36.03°EShungura — 5.04°N, 36.01°EHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°ENubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°E

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The named rock units Arvicanthis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 13 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Arvicanthis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Arvicanthis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

289 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 26 sites for Arvicanthis, 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 26 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 content2

Picture of Arvicanthis

Credit
Bodlina
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Arvicanthis niloticus variegatus · nhmuk:zoo:1892.9.9.b2

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itMuridae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lesson 1842