Batodonoides vanhouteni

Batodonoides vanhouteni is an extinct shrew-like mammal, thought to be the smallest mammal that ever lived, as well as the smallest synapsid that ever lived. On the basis of the size of its molar teeth, it is estimated that Batodonoides vanhouteni weighed only 0.93–1.82 g (0.03–0.06 oz). They lived about 53 million years ago during the early Eocene Epoch in North America. The species is a member of the order Eulipotyphla.

Batodonoides vanhouteni

See original uncropped file · 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
BatodonoidesPBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Theria
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Eutheria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At most 4.9 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 56 Mya and 51.1 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Paleocene — about 0 of 2 occurrencesEocene — about 2 of 2 occurrencesEocene56–56 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56.5 Mya50.6 Mya

2 occurrences of Batodonoides vanhouteni 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

2 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

1 formation

Willwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°W

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The named rock units Batodonoides vanhouteni has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Batodonoides vanhouteni and its relatives

Eocene

Where Batodonoides vanhouteni and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

43 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Batodonoides vanhouteni, 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

1 reference

Each of the 2 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Batodonoides vanhouteni

Credit
See original uncropped file
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Batodonoides vanhouteni was found in Sketchfab.

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 itBatodonoides through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bloch et al. 1998