Cephalomyidae

Cephalomyidae is an extinct family of caviomorph rodents from South America. The specific relationships of the family are uncertain, and affinities to both chinchilloid and cavioid rodents have been supported. Most recently, Kramarz in 2005 performed a phylogenetic analysis supporting a relationship to the Cavioidea, as represented by Eocardiidae, although more recent analyses have placed them among the chinchilloids as relatives of the giant neoepiblemid rodents. McKenna and Bell (1997) questioned the validity of the family, placing the cephalomyid genera then known in Dasyproctidae, but Kramarz (2001) subsequently reasserted the distinctiveness of cephalomyids.

Cephalomyidae

Skye McDavid · 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
CaviomorphaPBDB
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 9.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 13.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 29 Mya to 11 Mya.

Oligocene — about 16 of 28 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 12 of 28 occurrencesMiocene30–29 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 2 occurrences28–28 Mya — about 2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 2 occurrences26–26 Mya — about 2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 2 occurrences24–24 Mya — about 2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–20 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23.04 Mya13.8 Mya29.5 Mya10.5 Mya

28 occurrences of Cephalomyidae on record. 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

28 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

6 formations

Sarmiento — 45.23°S, 67.49°WSarmiento — 45.67°S, 68.71°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°WDeseado — 47.90°S, 66.25°WFray Bentos — 29.68°S, 58.73°WChinches — 31.99°S, 69.78°WAgua de la Piedra — 36.55°S, 69.70°WCerro Bandera — 38.92°S, 69.58°W

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The named rock units Cephalomyidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

212 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Cephalomyidae, 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

13 references

Each of the 28 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. 1 further reference is 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 Cephalomyidae

Credit
Skye McDavid
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Cephalomyidae 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 itCaviomorpha through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Ameghino 1897