Castor californicus

The Californian Beaver is an extinct species of beaver that lived in western North America from the end of the Miocene to the early Pleistocene. Castor californicus was first discovered in the Kettleman Hills of California, United States. The species was similar to but larger than the extant North American beaver, C. canadensis.

Castor californicus

Poromiami · Public Domain · 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
CastorPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB, for Castoridae
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Castor
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 3.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 4.7 Mya to 1.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 9.4 Mya to 210 ka.

Miocene — about 6 of 26 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 12 of 26 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 8 of 26 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 26 occurrences9.6–9.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.2–8.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.9–8.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.6–8.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.3–7.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.9–7.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.6–7.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.9–6.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.6–6.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.3–5.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.9–5.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.6–5.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.3–5.0 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences5.0–4.6 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences4.6–4.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.3–4.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.6–3.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.3–3.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.0–2.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.3–2.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–1.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.3–990 ka Mya — about 0.6 occurrences990 ka–660 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences660 ka–330 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences330 ka–0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7 Mya1.4 Mya9.9 Mya0 Mya

26 occurrences of Castor californicus 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

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

7 formations

San Joaquin — 35.90°N, 120.00°WGlenns Ferry — 43.60°N, 116.80°WGlenns Ferry — 42.80°N, 114.90°WRingold — 47.00°N, 118.50°WRingold — 46.30°N, 119.10°WSnake Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WRattlesnake — 44.50°N, 119.30°WMcKay — 45.50°N, 118.80°WAlkali Canyon — 45.84°N, 119.29°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Castor californicus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Castor californicus and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Castor californicus and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

365 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 26 sites for Castor californicus, 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

14 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. 2 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 Castor californicus

Credit
Poromiami
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Castor californicus · UCMP:V:19408

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 itCastor through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Kellogg 1911