Caviomorpha

Caviomorpha is the rodent parvorder that unites all New World hystricognaths. It is supported by both fossil and molecular evidence. The Caviomorpha was for a time considered to be a separate order outside the Rodentia, but is now accepted as a genuine part of the rodents. Caviomorphs include the extinct Heptaxodontidae, the extinct Josephoartigasia monesi and extant families of chinchilla rats, hutias, guinea pigs and the capybara, chinchillas and viscachas, tuco-tucos, agoutis, pacas, pacaranas, spiny rats, New World porcupines, coypu and octodonts.

Caviomorpha

Uncredited · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
Also called
caviomorphPBDB
Sits inside
HystricognathiPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Rodentia
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Rodentia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Eocene — about 25 of 121 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 67 of 121 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 24 of 121 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 121 occurrencesPleistocene — about 4 of 121 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 1 occurrence46–44 Mya — about 1 occurrence44–42 Mya — about 1 occurrence42–41 Mya — about 1 occurrence41–39 Mya — about 2 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 7 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 7 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 8 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 9 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 9 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 12 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 11 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 10 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 10 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 5 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 3 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 3 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 6 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–11 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences9.8–8.2 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences8.2–6.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences6.5–4.9 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.9–3.3 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences3.3–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–0 Mya — about 3 occurrences37.71 Mya129 ka49 Mya0 Mya

121 occurrences of Caviomorpha on record, most of them in the Oligocene. 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

121 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

26 formations

Pozo — 7.33°S, 74.95°WPozo — 7.33°S, 74.95°WPozo — 6.58°S, 76.28°WSarmiento — 45.23°S, 67.49°WSarmiento — 45.67°S, 68.67°WSarmiento — 43.28°S, 65.48°WSarmiento — 46.68°S, 68.35°WSarmiento — 47.03°S, 66.48°WSarmiento — 44.02°S, 68.02°WSarmiento — 43.30°S, 65.42°WYahuarango — 9.49°S, 72.76°WChambira — 7.32°S, 74.93°WChambira — 7.35°S, 74.95°WSanta Cruz — 50.28°S, 70.22°WSanta Cruz — 50.28°S, 70.28°WSanta Cruz — 50.16°S, 69.68°WDeseado — 47.90°S, 66.25°WBrule — 41.70°N, 103.10°WCura-Mallín — 37.48°S, 71.23°WCura-Mallín — 37.65°S, 71.23°WHernandarias — 32.67°S, 60.63°WSan Sebastian — 18.34°N, 67.00°WLetrero — 3.33°S, 79.05°WPebas — 7.36°S, 74.96°WFray Bentos — 33.62°S, 58.42°WVinchina — 28.77°S, 68.17°WSalla — 17.18°S, 67.63°WFray Bentos — 29.68°S, 58.73°WYolomécatl — 17.47°N, 97.22°WChinches — 31.99°S, 69.78°WTafna — 21.98°S, 65.90°WSolimões — 8.98°S, 72.72°WSan Gregorio — 11.30°N, 70.24°WAgua de la Piedra — 36.55°S, 69.70°WCerro Boleadoras — 47.00°S, 71.62°WCerro Bandera — 38.92°S, 69.58°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Caviomorpha has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 21 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Caviomorpha and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Caviomorpha and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

707 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 59 sites for Caviomorpha, 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

44 references

Each of the 121 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. 32 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 Caviomorpha

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itHystricognathi through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Wood and Patterson 1955)