Basilosaurus cetoides

Basilosaurus cetoides

via iDigBio · CC0 · via iDigBio. 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
BasilosaurusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Cetacea
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Cetacea

Time the record covers

At most 23 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 56 Mya and 33.9 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Paleocene — about 0 of 42 occurrencesEocene — about 42 of 42 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 42 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences46–46 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences43–43 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences40–40 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 5 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 8 occurrences36–36 Mya — about 8 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 8 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 8 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 3 occurrences56.5 Mya33.4 Mya

42 occurrences of Basilosaurus cetoides 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

42 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

5 formations

Yazoo — 31.93°N, 88.46°WYazoo — 31.66°N, 92.90°WYazoo — 31.79°N, 88.50°WYazoo — 32.23°N, 89.37°WYazoo — 32.47°N, 90.08°WYazoo — 32.18°N, 89.17°WYazoo — 32.07°N, 88.96°WYazoo — 32.14°N, 89.25°WYazoo — 31.99°N, 88.48°WYazoo — 31.71°N, 87.96°WYazoo — 31.59°N, 87.70°WYazoo — 31.87°N, 88.57°WYazoo — 32.27°N, 89.39°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WYazoo — 31.63°N, 88.31°WYazoo — 31.63°N, 88.23°WYazoo — 31.66°N, 88.22°WYazoo — 31.57°N, 88.04°WYazoo — 32.28°N, 89.49°WYazoo — 31.71°N, 88.36°WYazoo — 32.14°N, 89.05°WOcala — 31.06°N, 87.13°WOcala — 29.14°N, 82.21°WOcala — 29.16°N, 82.09°WOcala — 31.58°N, 87.68°WOcala — 31.58°N, 84.16°WOcala — 32.72°N, 84.00°WDaba'a — 29.42°N, 26.77°ETivola — 32.39°N, 83.68°WDry Branch — 32.49°N, 83.59°W

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The named rock units Basilosaurus cetoides has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 8 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Basilosaurus cetoides and its relatives

Eocene

Where Basilosaurus cetoides and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

160 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 41 sites for Basilosaurus cetoides, 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

25 references

Each of the 42 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. 13 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 Basilosaurus cetoides

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itBasilosaurus through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Owen 1839)