Betula

A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus Betula, in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus Betula contains 30 to 60 known taxa of which 11 are on the IUCN 2011 Red List of Threatened Species. They are typically short-lived pioneer species and are widespread in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in northern areas of temperate climates and in boreal climates. Birch wood is used for a wide range of purposes.

Betula

Willow · CC BY 2.5 · 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
birchPBDB
Sits inside
BetulaceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Angiospermae

Time the record covers

At least 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 313 occurrencesPaleocene — about 33 of 313 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 36 of 313 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 20 of 313 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 127 of 313 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 24 of 313 occurrencesPleistocene — about 61 of 313 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 3 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 6 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 6 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 7 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 10 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 4 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 4 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 3 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 3 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 3 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 3 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 3 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 3 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 5 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 5 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 3 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 3 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 4 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 5 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 6 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 8 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 11 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 12 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 22 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 43 occurrences11–9.0 Mya — about 12 occurrences9.0–6.7 Mya — about 11 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 12 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 25 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 67 occurrences56 Mya11.7 ka67 Mya0 Mya

313 occurrences of Betula on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

313 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

67 formations

Chloropagus — 39.58°N, 119.37°WChloropagus — 39.58°N, 119.35°WFort Union — 44.00°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 45.78°N, 108.50°WFort Union — 43.88°N, 108.52°WFort Union — 46.17°N, 108.43°WFort Union — 45.83°N, 109.95°WFort Union — 45.80°N, 105.89°WFort Union — 44.60°N, 105.36°WFort Union — 43.97°N, 106.58°WFort Union — 41.55°N, 108.70°WLatah — 47.64°N, 117.45°WLatah — 47.64°N, 117.36°WLatah — 47.70°N, 116.75°WLatah — 47.56°N, 117.22°WNanjemoy — 38.17°N, 77.04°WGuchengzi — 41.84°N, 123.90°EPorters Creek — 36.42°N, 89.56°WAquia — 38.17°N, 77.04°WMotojuku — 36.25°N, 138.75°EBuffalo Canyon — 39.20°N, 117.78°WMiddlegate — 39.25°N, 117.88°WOkhonchevayamskaya — 60.42°N, 165.92°EPyramid — 39.90°N, 119.55°WBeaverdam — 42.24°N, 114.08°WWuyun — 49.28°N, 129.67°EChallis Volcanics — 44.37°N, 114.22°WSalmon City — 45.18°N, 113.88°WEvanston — 41.33°N, 111.00°WUspenskaya — 60.42°N, 165.92°EDouglas Canyon — 47.45°N, 119.87°WBangmai — 23.90°N, 100.02°EShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°EAllenby — 49.45°N, 120.57°WMalboro Clay — 38.17°N, 77.04°WGolden Valley — 45.50°N, 103.25°W

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The named rock units Betula has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 43 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 172 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Betula and its relatives

Miocene

Where Betula and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

2,430 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 187 sites for Betula, and this reads all of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

83 references

Each of the 313 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. 71 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 content3

Picture of Betula

Credit
Willow
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Betula pendula · hlu:ccc:595

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itBetulaceae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1753