Asoriculus

Asoriculus is an extinct genus of terrestrial shrews in the subfamily Soricinae and tribe Nectogalini, native to Europe West Asia and North Africa, from the Late Miocene until the late Holocene. The genus is closely related and probably ancestral to the also recently-extinct Balearic shrews (Nesiotites), with their closest living relative being the Soriculus shrews native to the Himalayas and surrounding areas.

Asoriculus

Cardioceras · 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
NeomyiniPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Soricidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Soricidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 5.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 4 of 28 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 12 of 28 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 12 of 28 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 28 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 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 0.3 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.4–4.0 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.6–3.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences3.2–2.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.4–2.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–1.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.2–809 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.333 Mya129 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

28 occurrences of Asoriculus on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

28 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

3 formations

Lefkon — 41.17°N, 23.50°EPlatanochori — 40.57°N, 23.47°EGonia — 40.37°N, 23.11°E

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The named rock units Asoriculus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 25 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Asoriculus and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Asoriculus and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

452 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 27 sites for Asoriculus, 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

19 references

Each of the 28 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. 7 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 Asoriculus

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

No 3D scan of Asoriculus was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itNeomyini through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Kretzoi 1959