Cercartetus

The genus Cercartetus is a group of very small possums known as pygmy possums. Four species comprise this genus, which together with the genus Burramys make up the marsupial family Burramyidae.

Cercartetus

Uncredited · 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
pygmy possumPBDB
Sits inside
BurramyidaePBDB
Diet
insectivore, frugivorePBDB, for Burramyidae
Life habit
arborealPBDB, for Burramyidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Mammalia

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 33 occurrencesOligocene — about 0 of 33 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 2 of 33 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 33 occurrencesPleistocene — about 28 of 33 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.2–8.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.1–6.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.9–5.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.8–4.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.5–2.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.3–1.2 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.2–0 Mya — about 23 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka34.6 Mya0 Mya

33 occurrences of Cercartetus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

33 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.

Cercartetus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Cercartetus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

290 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 23 sites for Cercartetus, 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

17 references

Each of the 33 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. 5 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 Cercartetus

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Cercartetus 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 itBurramyidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gloger 1841